Home football games, like Saturday night’s contest against Air Force, are a fairly predictable affair in Laramie. Students spill out of dorm rooms, back streets and businesses and funnel into the gates of War Memorial Stadium donned in various levels of fan apparel. Barbecues smoke, cars honk and lines form. The routine is as well known as any time-honored campus function.
Through all the fanfare, though, one factor seems to be consistently present: alcohol. Houses surrounding the stadium present kegs on the front lawn. Beer cans are strewn along sidewalks and in gutters. The occasional fan stumbles although were no obstacle exists.
“Yeah, I pre-gamed and I drank at the game,” said a UW senior majoring in psychology. “We killed two bottles. I’ve been drinking at games since I was a freshman. It’s impossible to get caught unless you’re a f——- retard.”
This student, acting in blatant contradiction of the university’s dry stadium policy, is not the only one. From the student gate of the stadium, the influence of alcohol on fans is readily observable.
“I have a bunch of this twisted lemonade stuff and now I’m not really planning on paying attention to the game,” said another student, a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in kinesiology.
The prevalence of drinking at War Memorial has not gone unnoticed by the staff.
“It’s so obvious that students are drinking,” said Rajesh Bajracharya, a UW pharmacy student who works a concession stand in the stadium. “You get students trying to buy empty cups to put booze in. Sometimes they even pay full price for the drink just to dump it out. Then they go into the bathroom and ditch the bottle.”
Many student attendees of the football games view this excessive consumption as a consequence of the university’s policy against drinking in the stadium.
“I feel like the environment could be more controlled and appropriate if it wasn’t a dry stadium,” said a 20-year old petroleum engineering major who admitted to drinking before coming to Tuesday’s game. “Those that are 21 will be more respectful of the rules. People that are too drunk can be cut off and they’ll pay for the drinks.”
Chief of University of Wyoming Police Mike Samp disagrees with the idea that the stadium allowing drinking would fix the issue.
“A dry stadium helps to encourage appropriate fan content,” said Samp. “Alcohol in the stadium would only compound our issues. When they drink outside the stadium, it’s typically adults.”
Samp also said that the number of alcohol-related incidents at games so far this year has not been excessive.
“Historically, we have seen an increase in incidents at some of our larger games, but this year we have yet to see much of an increase and student conduct has been good,” said Samp.
Samp was not alone in expressing the view that student drinking at games is less prevalent than it may seem. Several students said that they did not consume alcohol before the game, and that most of their friends also elected to attend the game sober.
“I don’t think you need to drink to have a good time at the games,” said Taylor Bjornestad, an 18-year-old freshman pre-vet major. “I spend time at these events with people that don’t pressure me. It’s the classic you-don’t-have-to-be-drunk-to-have-fun kind of thing.”
Bjornestad also said that it does seem like a few people that he has encountered at games are intoxicated.
“I think a big part of it is wanting to fit in,” said Bjornestad. “A lot of people think of college as a big party. They view drinking as almost mandatory.”
