Spartan students get ticket vouchers

As a student and as the chair of the Academic Assembly at Michigan State University, Charles McHugh is in touch with the student body.

"Students don't like the idea of general admission and waiting in line for hours and hours," he said about seating at Spartan Stadium under a newly adopted voucher program.

But that's what many students are dealing with at MSU home football games this year. The Spartans' Athletic Ticket Office has implemented a voucher system for tickets. While students are guaranteed a seat for each game, they do not have reserved seats. Seating is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

The system is intended to keep students from sitting in other students' seats and to prevent overcrowding, said John Lewandowski, MSU assistant for athletic media relations.

"There were no serious problems (in the past), but the potential was there for it to escalate into something else," Lewandowski said.

Some students said they think the policy targets other activities.

"I don't like it because we can't tailgate as much," said an MSU sophomore and season-ticket holder who did not want to be identified. "You have to get there at least an hour early."

Other MSU students said they also dislike the new policy.

"It's pissing off the students - it forces us to compete for seats," MSU first-year student Craig Dugan said. "It's a hassle."

Despite these common complaints, Lewandowski defends the new system, adding that he estimates students have to wait in line for about seven or eight minutes to get into the stadium.

He said the only options officials had to resolve past seating problems were "heavy-handed enforcement" of students' assigned seats or using the voucher system.

"By and large we've been pleased," he said. "Police have been happy with the results."

The idea of a voucher system is not a new one. Pennsylvania State University instituted it six years ago.

"It took the students three or four years to get used to it," said Bud Meredith, Penn State's athletic ticket manager.

"It's really for the students," he said. He pointed out that it allows students to decide who they want to sit with on the day of the game.

Penn State used the policy to combat overcrowding in the student section. Meredith said that the old system prevented security and medical personnel from effectively doing their jobs.

"There were people sitting in the aisles," he said.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison and Indiana University also use voucher systems.

Wisconsin has used vouchers for five years. The system is basically the same as the ones at Penn State and MSU, but upperclass students receive vouchers for seats in a section closer to the field.

Students wait in line for "10, 20 minutes at the most," said Chris Ludwig, a ticket broker at Wisconsin.

"It guarantees that all students have seats and guarantees that upperclassmen get better seats," he said.

Indiana began using the vouchers this football season. The school has no preferential treatment for students with seniority.

Despite the growing popularity of this system, the ticket voucher trend does not appear to be catching on for the Big House.

Martin Bodnar, head of the University of Michigan's Athletic Ticket Office, said that to his knowledge, the University has no plans to use a voucher system.

"We just try to make sure all the students have tickets," he said.

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