note: medically graphic image included
Early Saturday morning on Jan. 25, students lining up for College Gameday experienced violent stampedes as they attempted to enter Neville Arena.
Auburn University banned camping out for the Auburn Tennessee game due to below-freezing temperatures. The university encouraged students to attend College Gameday in the morning to secure a seat to the game later in evening.
The line was set to open at 6:30 a.m., and the student gate into the arena was set to open at 7 a.m., three hours before the College Gameday broadcast started. The plan was to let students in incrementally.
A wristband system was also implemented, in which students at College Gameday received a wristband giving them priority seating in Neville arena for the basketball game later.
Of course, the early-morning Jungle fanatics were waiting in groups at the entry of the Village before the official line opened at 6:30. Some were there before 5 a.m. A singular cop car blocked the path.
"I got here at three, four o'clock in the morning. And we got here, and there was a mad mob that kind of formed down by Willow Hall," said a student who works for Auburn Athletics and wished to remain anonymous.
Once the official line opened, chaos ensued.
The presiding campus safety and security officers told students not to jump the barricades and to refrain from running, pushing or shoving. These warnings, however, did not prove helpful.
Soon, students began jumping barricades and running at full speed toward the doors.
One individual, Sammy Lifshen fell on the concrete during the mad dash to the doors, split her chin open and had to visit the emergency room.
Lifshen and her friends were directly behind a group who pushed over one of the barricades to get to the doors. She felt everyone pushing behind her and had no choice but to try to follow people ahead of her.
Lifshen remembered getting separated from her friends, hearing people yelling and seeing people falling over each other all around her.
"I literally was running full speed and got tripped up on someone and fully face-planted into the concrete," said Lifshen, senior in marketing. "Someone tried to help me up, but they had to keep running because it was literally a stampede."
Lifshen doesn't remember getting stepped on, but she did experience difficulties trying to get out of the crowd and make her way toward a security officer. The crowd was only pushing further ahead, and few people were moving despite the guard's cries to get out of the way.
Lifshen was brought inside the arena and assessed by the EMTs on standby, who were all "super nice and helpful." She then drove to the emergency room and spent five hours there.
"I got six stitches in my face, a pretty bad chip in my tooth and a really bad scab on my lip; but I'm still going to the game tonight," Lifshen said.
She compares the experience to a Travis Scott concert she attended at Austin City Limits music festival in 2018.
"Especially when we were getting pushed over the barricade that had fallen over, it took everything in me. I was like, I can not trip over this or get my foot stuck in it because I am literally going to get trampled and die," Lifshen said.
The anonymous witness also recounted the fear and confusion of getting caught up in the herd.
"I was in the middle of this mob because I thought that was the middle of the line. And then, against my will, I was moved all the way to the end and pushed out of the line," the anonymous source said. "It was a very dangerous situation that I think could have been prevented."
Social media backlash on Auburn accounts and posts about College Gameday has been prolific.
When The Plainsman reached out for statements to various campus authorities, responses entailed that only the office of public affairs would be commenting to the media.
Dr. Jennifer Wood Adams, executive director of the Auburn's public affairs, released an official statement from the university regarding the affair this morning:
"Extreme weather conditions during the course of the week forced Auburn to make the difficult decision to disallow the traditional premier match-up camp out which occurs in Jungle Village, and allows students to line up gradually over a period of time.
As temperatures deemed a camp out to be unsafe, the student line was announced to open at 6:30 a.m., prior to doors opening for students and fans at 7 a.m.
For a brief moment upon line opening, a group of students rushed around the side of security, working personnel and students who had staged near the barricade entry. Those students began jumping barricades to gain entry which impacted the students trying to enter the barricades in an orderly fashion.
All students in line in advance of this morning’s live broadcast – including students who walked up after the initial line was cleared – were admitted to the arena and provided with a wristband for entry to tonight’s game.
On site medical staff reported a few minor injuries which were addressed locally by EMS.
Auburn is reviewing feedback and video footage from the line to develop plans for future games to ensure student safety."
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Sami Grace Donnelly, senior in English literature, began writing for the Plainsman in the fall of 2021. She has served as a columnist, writer abroad, Opinion Editor, managing editor and is now Editor-in-Chief of the Plainsman.
