For most students, Badger football games are one of the most fun and memorable events at UW. The games allow us students to demonstrate our Badger pride, from red shirts to body paint and pre-game parties to beer bongs. Although I did miss a few games this season (11 a.m. is way too early after a Friday night’s festivities), this Saturday’s game versus Penn State was definitely the most fun I have ever had at a Badger game. What contributed to the fun, you ask? Well, not only the fact that every single person on the Madison campus was intoxicated and having a great time, but simply watching the cops and security try to look for something to do — pick on the college kids, that is. That was enough fun for me.
From my eyes (or at least from what I remember), we behaved ourselves. We put on our drinking shoes, recited our cheers, wore our Badger-wear and proved what we are famous for. But many police officers didn’t seem to see it the same way I did. I am not sure as to what orders they were given, or what constituted the arrests they made, but they were on major power trips.
Immediately upon arriving the stadium I witnessed two students being ID’d. I don’t know how the three cops figured they had been drinking (I mean, come on, no one drinks before the Badger football games), but in seconds the two were arrested. Three cops had to escort the two underage students to the “stadium prison,” since one cop for each student wasn’t enough to hold down these extremely cooperative boys.
A minute later, my roommate and I found our friends, and one informed us that his roommate and a friend from Mayville had been arrested for hiding alcohol in their cargos. Were the arrests really necessary? Give them their underage tickets, confiscate their alcohol and let them go to the game. Arresting them and putting them in “prison” for a few minutes just gives students another good story to tell. It doesn’t embarrass them or teach them a lesson — they will just try to be sneakier at the next game.
Besides, when is a better time to socialize then in the Camp Randall prison? The UW student who was arrested for possession of alcohol ended up running into some old roommates who had been arrested for harassing a cop’s horse. What are cops on horses doing at Camp Randall anyway?
Those incidents may have their reasons for an arrest. If you’re not 21, you’re not supposed to drink. We understand that. But some officers seemed to want to take away all the fun. Sometime during the second quarter, a couple of guys ran down the isle and walkway with a banner that simply stated, “Go Wisconsin!” Immediately two cops ran up to them, snatched the banner out of their hands and told them to go back to their seats. Well, now. How dare we? No school spirit, kids!
Soon after, a group of guys blew up beach balls, and the student section started playfully batting them around. Again, the cops not only grabbed the beach balls, but arrested a student whom they saw hit one.
I could not get over watching the police and security scan the student sections for “trouble.” Were they that bored? I don’t think the police were being paid to take on the role of our baby-sitters.
Between the first quarter and the end of the game there were 34 student arrests, eight of which were non-UW-Madison students. Of the 26 UW student arrests, 20 were for underage drinking, and the students received underage-drinking tickets upon their release. The other six arrests were for the following reasons: two for obstructing, one for disorderly conduct, one for possession of alcohol, one for unauthorized presence and one for throwing of objects. What was that object? From what I understood, a beach ball.
Badger game day is supposed to be fun. We are University of Wisconsin college students — we are known to be wild and crazy, so let us be. Officers and security need to pay attention to the more serious and important situations at the game — not try to pick out a student who looks like he or she could have been drinking. Honestly, why else do UW-Madison students wake up at 9 a.m. on a game-day Saturday? Newsflash: most likely to drink. Look out for fights, look for people with weapons, look for the adults who think they are still in college and can’t control their liquor intake anymore. Or better yet, watch the game! We’re students. We just want to support our players and have some innocent fun.
Nina Balistreri ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in strategic communication.
