Staff who hand out wristbands should do job better, prevent confusion
The statements made by university officials were contradictory. It was said that students with upper-level tickets were "somehow" getting wristbands and they "don't know how." Well, I know how, and so does every other student who enters the stadium prior to 30 minutes to kickoff. The event staff scanning our tickets and getting paid to hand out wristbands to students with only with lower-level tickets are not doing their job.
If students can "sneak" into the student section without wristbands through "layers of security" without being caught, how is assigning seats going to be any easier? I do not see how the staff will enforce the assigned seats to 9,000 students if they cannot keep those 200-plus students without wristbands from getting into the student section.
Eliminating the lottery system and going back to the old system isn't a good idea either; it was changed for a reason. It is not the fairest possibility. Students whose schedules conflict with the time the box office gives tickets out and who cannot afford to miss class get the short end of the stick.
Virtually handing out 9,000 lower-deck tickets to first come, first served students and the remaining 2,000 upper-deck tickets to the next rush of students will not help solve the issue of the wrong students getting wristbands; that is being done now through the use of the lottery phases.
Away game ticket sales are a prime example. There were probably no more than 2,000 students in line to purchase away game tickets, and look how chaotic that was.
People were calling and complaining about cutting until security arrived to prevent this from happening, and it still took more than an hour to get through the line that was inside the box office area more than an hour before tickets went on sale.
If you were the person next in line when the last ticket was handed out and you know at least 20 people cut you in line, how ticked off were you? The same issues and feelings would arise if USC converted back to its old "first come, first served" Russell House distribution system.
Ultimately, the problem has a very easy solution. Tell the people getting paid to hand out wristbands to actually look and read the students' tickets to make sure they qualify to receive a wristband. Students with upper-level tickets should be able to enter in one gate only and all other lower-level ticket holders enter in the remaining gates.
That way, no student with an upper-level ticket can even get it scanned at a gate that isn't designated to upper-level seating and he or she won't have the ability to get a wristband. Students with lower-level seats enter through remaining gates and receive a wristband when the ticket is scanned and made sure that it says "General Admission" and not "Upper Level."
— Jessica Thompson, third-year sports and entertainment student
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