The Old College Dry
"AT this year's Baker Blast, traditionally one of Columbia University's most popular football events, students stayed away from the pregame festivities in droves as strict new policies on alcohol and parking took effect. In the main tailgating area outside the football field, where young scholars had grilled and drunk with gusto in years past, no students were in evidence, and it smelled like middle-age spirit.
''It used to be this was fraternity row,'' said John Alex, a financial adviser, sipping a Heineken at one of the half-dozen sedate alumni tailgate gatherings taking place at the Blast, held last Saturday. ''Frats would all have their tents along this fence, with parties and drinking and all that.''
But shortly before this year's Baker Blast, named for the university's Baker Field athletic complex on West 218th Street, Columbia announced that alcohol could no longer be carried into the complex through the pedestrian gate. New restrictions on parking further inhibited student tailgating, as reserved parking passes were made available only to donors of $1,000 or more -- $2,500 for the main tailgating area -- and to season ticket holders. As a result, student groups that had been planning barbecues with alcohol, like the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, canceled or moved them.
''I'm very furious,'' said Stefanie Spinelli, a sorority sister wearing a T-shirt celebrating a 2005 Baker Blast barbecue that was never held. ''They killed the whole scene.''
Columbia officials said the new drinking policy was in line with that of other N.C.A.A. institutions. ''In the past there was tailgating on the lawn, and it basically got so out of control we put in rules and regulations about alcohol,'' said Albert G. Carlson, the university's associate director of athletics. M. Dianne Murphy, the athletic director, added that the new rules brought Baker Field in line with Columbia's overall policies toward events and alcohol.
For students and others of legal drinking age, the school created a sanctioned drinking area, called the Columbia Lions Tail-Gate, where ID's were checked and beer was sold. But a half-hour before the game, attendance was sparse. ''Forty minutes ago,'' said Zach Ryan, a senior, ''there were only two of us here.''
By contrast, Family Football Day, a new university-sponsored event for hundreds of administrative staff members, was in full swing nearby, with music and free food.
By the 12:30 kickoff against Duquesne University, 3,511 fans had gathered in the stands, roughly 1,300 more than at last year's Baker Blast. But this year's attendance was beefed up by free tickets that Columbia supplied its administrators and their families, and it was difficult to determine how many students were at the game.
Students in the stands complained that the new policies -- first reported Sept. 21 in The Columbia Spectator, the student newspaper -- had depressed the turnout of their classmates tremendously. But Columbia officials estimated that only 1,400 of the 2,100 who had sent R.S.V.P.'s for the staff event actually turned up, which would make the nonstaff attendance at the game similar to last year's.
Edrys Erisnor, who works in Columbia's institutional real estate office, was having a terrific afternoon at his first university football game, along with his young daughter and three young cousins. ''It's a way to get the administrative staff involved in the community,'' he said. ''It's not just a student event.''
But one section away, students were glum. ''I want people to come out to support the team not just for the tailgating, but the tailgating was an incentive,'' said Tara Wedin, a senior whose boyfriend, Bill Beechum, is a football co-captain. ''The guys deserve to have fans in the stands. They work so hard.''
JOHN FREEMAN GILL
NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: INWOOD"