Letter: UNLV chases tailgaters away

Friday, Oct. 30, 1998 | 10:50 a.m.

I have been a Rebel football supporter since the program's inception in 1968. I am a scholarship donor and a member of the Football Foundation. Although I have enjoyed many years of football and tailgate parties at Sam Boyd Stadium, I was extremely disturbed by the way we were treated following the UNLV-Wyoming game Oct. 17.

We were watching the World Series in our tailgate spot waiting for the crowd to clear when a UNLV motorcycle officer told us to "pack it up and leave the parking lot." The officer was rude and belligerent. It was the first time UNLV has asked tailgaters to leave the stadium parking lot.

We are the core supporters of the football program. In a year where the football team is less than competitive, I would think the university would be trying to support the tailgate groups, rather than allowing the security force to alienate us.

Tailgating is part of what creates the college football atmosphere. If it is the intent of the university to discontinue tailgating and activities of this nature, it may as well discontinue the football program, too.

ROBERT KESSLER

archive