In my three-plus years at Carolina, I have never had a problem with the student ticketing office or the stadium staff that check student tickets until this past Saturday. I am so disappointed and frustrated at what occurred at Williams-Brice Stadium then.
I had a lower deck ticket to the game and approached the gate where students go into the game; we were then told to go to another gate. Upon arriving at this gate, we were told to go back to where we just were. There, only a handful of people were let into the game, even though about every student in line had a ticket for the game. I was fortunate enough to be allowed inside the gates, but I was not given a wristband for the lower deck section, which I had a ticket for.
Being as polite as possible, I tried to ask a cop what was going on and how I could get a wristband. I could not finish my question because the cop kept interrupting me, threatening to arrest me if I kept trying to talk to him. I was doing nothing wrong but asking a question. When he finally did let me finish my question, he told me he had no idea what was going on.
I then noticed a stadium employee with about three wristbands in her hand. I asked her for a wristband, and she very rudely handed me the band and then said something along the lines of, "Here I don't want to deal with this anymore."
This whole process made me miss a little more than the whole first quarter of the game. I was lucky enough to be allowed into the game as many of my friends and other students who had tickets were not allowed into the stadium. There was no explanation given, but I'd estimate that at least 100 people (and there were definitely more than that) were not allowed into the game even though they had tickets.
I am shocked, disappointed and frustrated at how poorly Saturday was handled by the ticketing office and stadium staff. Students who had student tickets were not allowed into the game and were treated with a level of disrespect that one does not expect at such a venue.
I hope something like this never occurs again at Williams-Brice Stadium. Please improve the handling of student tickets and please let students who have student tickets into the game.