A change in Yale University's tailgating policies caused an uproar in the weeks leading up to "The Game," the annual football contest held between Harvard University and Yale, which occurred this year on Nov. 19. The new rules, which were adopted to curb binge drinking and unruly behavior, included a ban on all drinking games, new rules against standing on top of cars and trucks and a ban on U-Haul trucks. It also included an especially controversial rule stating that tailgate parties would be broken up at halftime. A great deal of the backlash came from Yale alumni, who argued that the new rules would take away from their opportunity to socialize with other alumni.

Yale's alumni felt that they were being unfairly targeted by the new rules, which were created primarily in response to underage drinking. Alumni maintained that their tailgate parties at "The Game" are normally subdued and lasted well after the end of the game. Though Yale officials acknowledged that alumni parties did not present problems, they maintained that the rules must be enforced for both students and alumni.

Many alumni argued that tailgating at "The Game" was a valuable tradition. "For many of us, tailgating all day on game day has become the most vital ritual in maintaining our desire to support and participate in Yale's future," alumnus George Stapleton '96 wrote in a letter to The Yale Daily News. "It requires no advance ticket purchases, no fees, no reservations. It encourages only a love for Yale and old friends."

The uproar from alumni caused Yale to back off on its harsh rules before "The Game." At a game against Brown University prior to the Harvard game, Yale alumni seemed to be exempt from many of the new rules. Student tailgaters, who had seemingly resigned to the new rule change, were told to break down their parties after halftime and left with little trouble. However, Yale Police made no effort to end alumni parties, which were allowed to continue until well after the end of the game.

On the day of "The Game," Yale's enforcement of the new rules was far less strict than originally mandated. Parties continued until the end of the triple-overtime game, with police patrolling but not attempting to break up both the subdued alumni parties and the more raucous student parties where many undergraduates were breaking the new regulations on tailgating. "People are just disregarding [the rules]," Yale senior Zoe Pershing said to the Harvard Courant. "There's just way too many people here."