The week before the Boston College vs. Notre Dame football game, most students were gearing up for a weekend full of school spirit, rivalry, and, of course, tailgating. However, for many undergraduate students in Messina College and Montserrat, the fast-approaching game day did not hold the same excitement as it did for the rest of the BC community.
Although Montserrat and Messina students are given a Gold Pass at the beginning of the school year, it does not include tickets to every game, such as the Notre Dame game on Nov. 1. To make up for this, students in these programs receive email lotteries so that they can enter to win free tickets to certain sports, arts, and community events.
While the rest of the students got automatic tickets to the Notre Dame game, Montserrat and Messina students were invited to participate in a lottery instead. For many other high-demand games, such as hockey matches between BC and Boston University, all undergraduate students are subject to an attendance-based ticketing system: You must attend a certain amount of games throughout the season to be guaranteed a ticket. This system prioritizes the most passionate fans and rewards them for their support. For some reason—maybe due to our football team’s abysmal season— the Notre Dame game was not marked as a high-demand event, so any regular Gold Pass holder was able to attend. However, what doesn’t make sense is why Montserrat pass holders were not subject to this same treatment.
Obviously, this game is a big deal. It’s literally called “The Holy War!” Despite my lack of family connections to either school, I knew about the rivalry far before applying to BC. The game should have been marked as high demand, subjecting students to the attendance-based policy that other games use. Alternatively, a similar ticketing process to what is done for popular events such as Beanpot or Modstock, where students must log into a ticketing platform at a certain time to get tickets, could have been used. If BC was insistent on using a raffle, all undergraduate students should have been entered. Regardless of which system BC chose, it should have created an equal playing field for students, not one solely based on the ability to pay for tuition.
It does not make sense to add an extra layer of stress, confusion, and exclusion to a select portion of the student body on one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Who’s to say that Montserrat and Messina College students aren’t just as spirited or deserving of tickets as anyone else? The raffle system feels targeted, and excluding students who are already often excluded and marginalized is odd and rather insane. The Notre Dame game is about school spirit and community building, but leaving out over 20% of undergraduate students from such a cornerstone event of the BC experience isn’t building community at all. It’s knocking one down.
International Studies major with a passion for gossip and chai lattes.
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