As a loyal Cyclone football fan I buy my season ticket every year and try to make it to as many games as possible. But there’s more to Cyclone football games than watching the team slaughter someone; I’m talking about the event that starts early Saturday morning and lasts till after the game – tailgating.

Tailgating just isn’t the same as it used to be when the majority of the students all gathered in Lot S1. This year, because of the increase of construction at Reiman Gardens, the students lost their usual spot.

I’ve tailgated the last couple of years and I always knew I could find my friends in S1. This summer when I worked in Ames I drove by Jack Trice Stadium, and was shocked to see a fenced-off construction area where I used to spend hours throwing around the ol’ pigskin and talking to people about the game.

“Where would the students go?” I wondered.

This past Saturday when Iowa State declawed the Baylor Bears in the Big 12 opener I had a chance to see how the students coped with the loss of their tailgating area. And there were some significant differences from the past.

The students seemed to be spread out more because they were mixed in with other tailgaters in their campers and motor homes. There also were not enough bathrooms around. There used to be at least twelve Porta-Pottiesnear S1. There are about half that number by the students now.

Students still get together and look past their own personal biases to enjoy being a Cyclone. The flags that fly above the tailgaters are still there, but realize there is an increase in the number of symbols of our great nation.

And of course the members of the Story County Sheriff’s Department, Ames Police Department and DPS still perform their jobs like they have in the past. The students still drink because they can drink and have a good time anywhere.

Yes, drinking is a common sight at football games, but when the students were all packed together it made the patrols of the peace officers easier.

The students and other people who tailgate have now had to change the way they do things because of “progress.”

I think Reiman Gardens is a beautiful place, but I don’t think that when things have to change, it shouldn’t be students who have to lose their privileges of having their own place. A few years ago students had to deal with the same problem when seating for the basketball games was changed around.

Just because a person donates money to the university does not give he or she the right to have a better seat or better parking spot. All of the athletes who Cyclone fans come to see have something in common with me and you.

They are all students and always seemed to be pushed around to make the alumni happy.

I will admit that the alumni members have donated money to improve the campus, but that is nothing compared to the fees that the students pay just to get an education. I know the alumni and other fans weren’t happy about the students being in “their” area. If the students have an area that they can run amok in and not bother anyone else than all will be just fine.

I graduate this year and when I come back to the games, I realize it will be slightly different for me when I tailgate. I’ll no longer be a student; I’ll be an alum.

People in charge of the assignment of the lots should think back to when they were students and how they enjoyed the games. The students are the ones who get up at six in the morning after partying all night to go and support their teams, made up of fellow students.

The students are the ones who make the university and the ones who should be given their own place to tailgate just like everyone else does.

Wesley Griffin is a senior in agricultural education from Grand River.