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As the University of Wisconsin football season kicks off this weekend, overly intoxicated students may be ejected from the game and placed on a voucher list as part of the university’s “Show and Blow” program.
Instituted by the Office of the Dean of Students in September 2007, the program mandates that any student section season ticket holder ejected from a UW football game for alcohol-related reasons will be put on a voucher list and be required to take a breathalyzer test before being admitted to any subsequent games for the season.
Underage students have to blow a .00 before being admitted, while of age students will need to blow a .08 or less to gain admittance, according to UW Assistant Dean of Students Ervin Cox.
If a student neglects the Breathalyzer but attends the game, their voucher will be cancelled and will be unusable for the rest of the season.
Because the policy ties the infraction to the respective student’s voucher — even if they sell their ticket or give it to a friend — the person using the voucher still needs to take the Breathalyzer test in place of the actual ticket holder.
Recent UW graduate, Miklos Kupan, was ejected from the first game of the season last fall and was subsequently added to the “Show and Blow” list.
Although Kupan said it is probably a good policy, he only went to the games he was really interested in, leading him to skip three games he says he would have otherwise attended.
“You don’t want to tell all your friends that you’ll try to find them in the stands later because you have to take a breathalyzer test,” Kupan said. “On top of that, I found it tough to even give away my ticket because I was on the list.”
Kupan had his voucher cancelled later in the season when he gave his ticket to a roommate who failed to show for the Breathalyzer after being admitted to the game.
UW senior and Kupan’s roommate last year, Rhett S., said he was admitted to the game without question, but was unable to locate where to take the Breathalyzer test.
“I knew I had to be sober — I was sober — but he got his voucher cancelled for that,” S. said. “There was nothing at the gate; I didn’t know there was a separate stand, (and) I thought the ticket would beep or something.”
One main objective of the policy, according to Cox, is to address the need to change the culture that prevents students from being at the game for kickoff.
“The players are really embarrassed when they come out of the tunnel at the start of the game and the student section is half empty,” Cox said. “It is the first thing the opposing team notices, too; it’s not intimidating.”
Football has always been king at other universities around the country, Cox added, but for some reason, it seems to be more of a party than a football game at UW.
Cox encouraged students to “be early, keep loud and stay late” at football games this year.
Edit summary: removed the last name of an interviewed individual upon request.
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Maybe the players need to be more worried about winning football games. It is funny how the students are always to blame. What about the less than half full of the alumni section in the rest of the stadium. People act as though students drinking before games are something new, it is not. If you pay for the ticket it shouldn’t matter what you do before games.
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Aww the players are embarrassed, someone call the Wahmbulance. I’m getting loaded and showing up when I want!
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If the full ride to a good university while playing the game you love isn’t enough for you to play hard and win, then get outta here. Players and students are two different entities. How can the players be embarrassed? I am embarrassed by the way they act in public, the way they conduct themselves in classes, and their general elitist attitude, but yet I manage to go to the games and cheer just the same, so why can’t they do their part and play?