As students line up to enter the Pony Stadium for another exciting football game with bags in hands and on backs to hold items, they are faced with security telling them they cannot bring those bags inside. The stadium policy, more strictly enforced this year, does not permit items such as bags, purses, water bottles and blankets. This rule is angering to students for obvious reasons, yet it is understandable why this restriction is needed for the safety of students.

These items are the perfect places to hide and disguise items such as bottles of alcohol, cigarettes and e-cigarettes and bringing them into the student section to use, as some poor decision makers have done in past years.

Starting with Prohibition, the nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcohol in 1919, the substance has always been a tentative subject. Even though this law attempted to prevent people from the consumption of alcohol, people still found a way to get their hands on it.

Throughout the past decade, drinking and smoking has become a more common pastime for some underage kids due to the want to be popular among their peers, parental influence and peer pressure, and addiction. It seems as though having a drink before a football game is tradition for many students.

According to Activities Director Ricky Michel, the policy is in place for a significant reason: to make sure all of the students make good choices and focus on their safety.

This restriction makes complete sense; it will prevent students from consuming or using any kind of substances during the game, but it cannot prevent kids from doing so before hand. Some students make the decision to come to the game after using some sort of substance, whether it be alcohol, marijuana, nicotine or a combination. Even the restriction itself has flaws. Students can manage to sneak in substances easily by concealing them under their clothes or even in pockets.

On the other hand, the majority of the students do not make poor decisions, and therefore are being punished for something they did not partake in years prior.

An easier solution would suffice. However, these would also cause some difficulties. If security deemed a student suspicious and checked their bags, it would be an invasion of privacy, especially if the assumption was incorrect. Funding for a breathalyzer test would cost too much, therefore students cannot be tested if they are coming to the game under the influence.

Whether or not people like this new policy, it has made a difference. Students now know to make better and smarter decisions, because the actions of a few create ramifications for many. The most important thing to know is that the reason these rules are in place are to protect students from seriously harming themselves or others.