Piles of trash, public urination plagued Winthrop tailgate in Rock Hill
Plastic cups, plates, collapsed tents, coolers and piles of trash littered the Winthrop University Coliseum grounds after the homecoming tailgate and game, prompting a volunteer and police to ask for action.
Charlie Ruffalo, 62, who owns Substation II near the college and volunteers to clean up after events, said he saw the mess after Winthrop’s homecoming Saturday. Ruffalo said the northeast corner of the tailgate area was particularly bad.
“No one was willing to take responsibility to clean up after themselves there,” Ruffalo said. “They left a tremendous amount of trash.”
Ruffalo said the homecoming draws people from out of town and out of state.
“They weren’t Winthrop people, they weren’t millennials, these were adults who just wanted to have a free party and didn’t respect the Winthrop environments,” he said.
Overcrowding and too few portable toilets led to other problems, Ruffalo said.
“People were just going up to the woods and using that for their bathroom,” he said. “Once the alcohol started flowing, no one was really modest. It’s disgusting.”
Security also was an issue.
In several meetings leading up to the Nov. 17 event, Winthrop police asked the school for better planning, said Assistant Campus Police Chief Wes Wiles. He said there were six officers at the event, which draws thousands of Winthrop alums and students each year.
“It is frustrating because of safety and security concerns,” Wiles said. “It is a mess that needs to be addressed.”
Wiles said officers were issuing citations early on, but had to prioritize serious security issues later in the day as people were drinking.
Ruffalo has helped clean up after Rock Hill’s Come-See-Me festival and Christmasville, and said he has not seen similar problems. He said a single entry point at Come-See-Me cuts down on litter and ensures banned items don’t make it into the event space.
Glass is not allowed at Winthrop’s tailgate party, but Ruffalo said he and other volunteers recycled plenty of it from the event.
“We’re hoping that someone at Winthrop can put in rules or some structure to prevent that from happening again. It’s two years in a row now,” Ruffalo said. “I’m over there volunteering because I love Winthrop, and to see people coming in and trashing the university like that was extremely disheartening for me.”
Winthrop officials said they are aware of the problem and released this statement:
“A tradition that brings together students, alumni and the community, tailgating at Winthrop’s homecoming is one of the week’s most popular and fun events. This year, the event attracted the largest number of tailgaters yet, and, while Winthrop is pleased that so many groups and individuals came out, we do recognize that a crowd of this size created a challenge with timely clean-up. The university’s homecoming committee, which is comprised of representatives from various Winthrop divisions, is aware of the issue and is already making plans for next year.”
