Students petition against Homecoming tailgate rules

An online petition that has more than 500 signatures is calling on University administration to address concerns of alleged discrimination against Black and brown students during a tailgate before the USC Homecoming Game Saturday. During the tailgate, National Panhellenic Council Greek organizations were surrounded by large wire fences. However, the Department of Public Safety and USC Alumni Association say the tailgate followed the same procedures as any other organization.

According to the Change.org petition, which was created by Marshall School of Business graduate student Nadine Isaacs, students felt that the tailgate had an increased police presence.

“Educated individuals simply seeking to be a part of the Trojan Homecoming experience were highly regulated by police officers and security,” the petition read. “We are tired of the blatant discrimination and demand the same respect afforded to other organizations on campus. This policing is unacceptable!”

A video on Twitter shows hundreds of people fenced into the tailgate with multiple officers surrounding the area. In the video, an officer can be seen monitoring the entry and exit points and slowly letting lines of people out through a small opening in the fence. In the video, an officer says, “Can we shut this down?”

Reggie Reed, a 2019 alumni Marshall alumnus, said he didn’t understand why the location was capped at 200 people, when it appeared there was space for more to enter. 

According to Patrick Auerbach, the associate senior vice president for alumni relations who helps plan the tailgate with the USC Alumni Association each year, the three organizations — Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Phi Beta and Lambda Upsilon Lambda — were placed in the area at their graduate chapters’ request. Because of the area the organizations chose, they knew there would be a 200-person limit in the area, he said.  

Reed said he didn’t understand why the area was gated nor why the Los Angeles Police Department and Department of Public Safety officers capped the gated area.

“What it looks like to me this year they said, ‘Let’s put them all in a small area, and let’s put a capacity on that so we can tone it all down,’” he said. “That’s what it looks like whether they meant to make it like that or not … I feel like it should have been known, like, we can’t cage up Black and brown people. It just looks too strange.” 

In the past, Auerbach said the Alumni Association coordinated the tailgate with the undergraduate chapters of the organizations but worked with the graduate chapters this year to serve alcohol at the event. Because organizers wanted to serve alcohol, the wire fence went up as part of tailgate protocol, Auerbach said. While other organizations were surrounded by shorter white picket fences, Auerbach said the taller wire fences are raised for any organization serving alcohol, including the Latino Alumni Association, USC Associates and the USC reunion.

“All groups that were officially registered participants at USC Homecoming had the same parameters for the type of fencing … that they needed,” Auerbach said. 

Isaacs and other students said there had been more security surrounding the tailgate than other areas, but DPS Chief John Thomas said a fire official told officers to come to the area to deal with overcrowding as visitors tried to get in and out of the area. She also said one alumnus brought up concerns that the layout seemed discriminatory and requested a larger space several days before the tailgate, but his concerns were not addressed. The alumnus did not respond to a request for comment.

Isaacs said she, Reed and other attendees are drafting a letter requesting to meet with various officials including leaders in Student Affairs, Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development and the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs to understand what happened and discuss their issues with how the tailgate was handled. 

Auerbach said the Alumni Association debriefs each year after Homecoming to discuss ways to improve the event, including talking with the organizations about possible new locations in the future to accommodate more people. Thomas said students have not reached out to DPS about the issue, but he would like to meet with students and alumni to discuss what happened and explain the situation from an administrator’s perspective. 

“We can only enhance that experience by dialogue and getting the insights from the participants so that we can make the necessary adjustments not only to keep them safe but to enhance the experience,” he said.