Student Issue, 2004—Overnight Ticket Lines Banned

More than 50 students who arrived at the university center in the late evening of September 9, 2004, to camp out while waiting for ticket distribution for the Florida football game were told to leave by UT police officers, who explained that camping out to wait for tickets had been banned because of the costs involved in providing police protection and cleaning up after such events. Students were angry that no change in the policy had been announced and that they were not allowed to take part in what was seen as a long-standing campus tradition. The ticket lottery system implementation meant that the first students in line did not necessarily get the best tickets, but students had wanted to camp out anyway. Several spent the night at the Joe Johnson-John Ward Pedestrian Mall and returned at 6:30 a.m. to form a line.