{"id":4268,"date":"2025-10-15T04:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4268\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T04:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:59:14","slug":"texas-southern-university-students-upset-after-curfew-placed-on-homecoming-tailgate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4268\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Southern University students upset after curfew placed on homecoming tailgate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Southern University<\/a> will end its homecoming tailgate hours several early on Saturday as several other historically Black institutions across the South experienced deadly shootings around their celebrations in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The change of plans has disappointed many students who view the tailgate as the highlight of homecoming – a week of events known as a hallmark of the experience at historically Black colleges and universities. The party caps the final day’s parade and football game, drawing more and more attendees as the celebration stretches into the night. Past Texas Southern homecoming tailgates have averaged thousands of attendees and can last until 3 or 4 a.m.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people are upset about it, especially people who have been here as long as I have,” said junior Serenity King. “They know what it’s supposed to look like, and (ending the activities early) ruins the tradition.”<\/p>\n

HIGHER ED: How\u00a0to apply to Texas colleges for free this week<\/a><\/p>\n

The football game versus Virginia University of Lynchburg will begin one hour early, at 1\u00a0p.m., and the campus\u00a0tailgate will end at 7 p.m..<\/p>\n

University President James\u00a0W. Crawford III<\/a> announced the changes in a letter and a five-minute video posted to social media on Monday evening. He said he made the decision with the university’s risk management team, the Texas Southern University Department of Public Safety and the leaders of the university’s national alumni association.<\/p>\n

“Evaluation of national trends and local data indicates that early closure is an effective deterrent to incidents that could compromise celebration and safety,” Crawford said in the letter. “It is incumbent on us all to do our best to ensure the safety and enjoyment of homecoming and to deter those who seek only to create chaos.”<\/p>\n

Crawford referenced “unfortunate incidents” at other universities but did not state them by name.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, a child was injured at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, after a shooting outside a homecoming tailgate area. A shooting also left one person dead and two wounded during homecoming events at\u00a0Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi,\u00a0the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other shootings occurred on Oct. 4 in Alabama and South Carolina. Two people died and one dozen were injured in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, as the\u00a0Morehouse-Tuskegee classic and other college and high school football games drew massive crowds to the city center,\u00a0according to Al.com<\/a>. Officials said the shooting did not occur at a sanctioned gathering or an event that was officially related to activities across the city.<\/p>\n

A woman died and man was wounded in two other shootings after a homecoming game at South\u00a0Carolina State University, according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While many TSU students said they understood why a curfew was put in place, they worried that it would put a damper on an event known to bring students and alumni together.<\/p>\n

“I get safety is an issue with everything that happens in Houston, but the same thing can happen at any other time,” said junior Stoney\u00a0Berkley. “Ending at 7 p.m.. compared to 1 a.m. is completely different.”<\/p>\n

Across the road:\u00a0Here’s what UH’s Renu Khator said during her 17th annual state of the university address<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas Southern’s homecoming events kicked off Sunday and will resume Wednesday. All other events, including the crowning of Miss and Mister TSU on Wednesday night, will take place as planned.<\/p>\n

Crawford said that the university police will operate a centralized mobile command center at the Saturday tailgate and will deploy 85 police officers across campus. In his video address, he reminded students if they “see something, say something.”<\/p>\n

“Have fun, enjoy the experience, connect with our alumni,” Crawford said. “Also, be thoughtful. Take care of yourselves and each other. Make good decisions.”<\/p>\n

Social media comments were limited on Texas Southern University’s posts, though several people lamented the decision.<\/p>\n

On campus, freshman students\u00a0Nyla Cummings and Keiontae Lucas called the curfew a “bummer.” The game will be their first-ever college tailgate.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been seeing other schools have their tailgates, and I wanted to experience mine,” Lucas said. “We wanted to do everything this year.”<\/p>\n

This article originally published at Texas Southern University students upset after curfew placed on homecoming tailgate<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Southern University will end its homecoming tailgate hours several early on Saturday as several other historically Black…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4689,4692,448,4693,4690,4694,1049,4691,27,29,28,4687,4688],"class_list":["post-4268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-alcorn-state-university","tag-college-tailgate","tag-homecoming","tag-jackson-state-university","tag-national-alumni-association","tag-south-carolina-state-university","tag-students","tag-tailgate","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-southern-university","tag-university-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}