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(12/05/13 2:00pm)
They always told me I'd end up as a barista from majoring in journalism.
The Friday before Thanksgiving break, I practiced for my future day job by spending some time behind the counter at the Starbucks in the Student Center.
Working at Starbucks is intense. The action never stops. At no time during my shift was the line empty.
"It's mostly fast throughout the whole entire thing," said Meme Lapread, barista.
Even on what Tiger Dining assistant director Chris Riggs called the slowest day of the year, newcomers kept refilling the line.
To further complicate things, every customer wants something different. There's no mass-production at Starbucks. Every drink has to be mixed by hand.
This means memorizing which drinks get mixed, which get ice, which need whipped cream and which take none of those.
Remembering the right container from the long rows of syrups is even harder when the line's down the hallway.
"It's not stressful," said supervisor JoAnn Ashbrook. "But it is at first. It's real stressful at first."
Ashbrook, who's worked at Starbucks for three years, admitted the job almost overwhelmed her, initially.
"I almost quit when I first started because I was like, 'Oh, it's just crazy,'" Ashbrook said. "I said, 'I can't let this beat me.' I'm not that kind of person... It's just like driving a car now."
The workers at Starbucks never showed signs of slowing down, despite the high traffic volume.
I had trouble keeping up, relying on Lapread and Ashbrook's patience to show me how to make each drink.
Ashbrook even took the time to greet several customers by name and wish them a happy Thanksgiving.
Riggs said he tries to instill this attitude in everyone who works there.
"What I tell my guys... especially my new hires, it's a privilege for us to be here," Riggs said. "You don't need coffee to survive. That's not in Maslow's hierarchy. So for people to actually spend $4-5 per day, just for coffee, it says a lot."
Keeping up with the pace and learning customers' names seemed impossible considering how many people visit the store.
Lakota Lasseter, another barista, said she tries to learn a new name every day.
"People who come in at night are usually the same," Lasseter said. "It's a lot of architecture students, a lot of interior design people who are in studios and things until really late. I think I know half of the architecture program by name."
Lasseter also said she looks for favorite customers, like the professor who gets coffee with his wife every morning, or the man who pays for the drink of the person in front of him every day.
"Most of the friends I've made actually are customers," Lasseter said.
However, not all customers are interested in conversation.
"My sister had a Georgia fan just throw money at her when she was on the register," Lasseter said. "It's like the weirdest little things get on everyone's nerves there."
I had enough. I wiped the syrup residue from my hands on to my apron and sat down after standing for so long. My time behind the counter had lasted a mere hour and a half. The others' shifts were just beginning.
(12/05/13 5:50am)
Everyone who walks onto Auburn University's campus must leave behind all shotguns, pistols, revolvers, starter guns, silencers, Tasers, bows, arrows, slingshots, swords, crossbows, brass knuckles, fireworks and anything else that shoots, stabs or explodes.
"It's just been traditionally that Auburn University has not allowed anyone other than law enforcement to have weapons on campus up until recently, this year," said Lieutenant Keith Walton of the University's Department of Public Safety and Security.
"The state legislature has passed a new gun law and when they implement the new law it requires that you can have a weapon in your vehicle at all times, as long as you got a permit to carry the gun," Walton said.
That law, Senate Bill 286, took effect in Alabama on Aug. 1, clarifying and expanding firearms laws.
Employees may now keep properly secured weapons inside their car at their workplace, although employers may still prohibit firearms within the business itself.
Auburn University plans to comply by the new rules, but has also exercised its right to prohibit all weapons within its buildings.
"So if you notice all the signs on all the buildings outside when you walk in that are affixed to the buildings, that's what those signs are for," Walton said.
The Department of Public Safety and Security's second response to the new law is a room-sized gun locker for students to store their firearms while on campus.
The locker, which should be completed by January, will require photo identification for use and will be monitored at all times.
Although the new rules allow gun owners more leeway, groups like Auburn University Students for Concealed Carry on Campus are still working for students right to carry firearms everywhere else at Auburn University.
"I think it's important that we not lose our right to protect ourselves when we come on campus," said research assistant Stephen Gulley, faculty adviser for the group.
"As the rules are now, any student or faculty who come on campus with a firearm can be fired or expelled."
David Shamp, president of Auburn Students for Concealed Carry, wants to keep his weapon with him for similar reasons.
"I feel [concealed carry] is really important because Auburn is obviously a very safe campus overall, but there's no guarantee of student safety," Shamp said.
"To think that a sticker on a door is going to stop someone from coming and committing violence... just doesn't make sense."
Branches of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus have been working to change university policies across the nation since the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
Despite its efforts, the group's Auburn chapter has made little progress with the university.
"Nothing's really going to change," Shamp said.
"The administration has been very good about contacting and connecting with us, but changing policy is probably gonna have to be at the state level."
Shamp's group is working with Alabama Gun Rights, a Second Amendment advocacy group. It is also looking for more partners.
"It's kinda hard to get a law passed for something that's already legal," Shamp said.
John Merrill, a Republican state representative from Tuscaloosa who voted for the new gun law, did not express support for bringing guns onto college campuses.
"If people are leaving their personal property in their personal vehicles, there shouldn't be a problem with that," he said.
"It's another thing when you start to remove that... any time you're introducing a weapon in that capacity, that could be a problem."
He suggested students look to alternative, legal security measures such as the Auburn police.
"This is a great institution, it's not like you've got a lot of incidences of violence where people feel like they're threatened just walking to class or going home," Merrill said.
The representative said he would be open to changing the law if Alabamians wanted.
"And when the law needs to be changed, people let us know," Merrill said. "People always let us know."
Opinion varies on allowing guns on campus.
"If you just went down the concourse and asked every other person, I would say two out of three would support the idea, but you know there are people who are very adamantly against it," Shamp said.
Auburn College Democrats president Sergio Gallardo disagrees.
"I think it comes ultimately down to the kind of environment we want to produce, and I'm satisfied with the environment we have here," Gallardo said.
"I would say the vast majority of students are."
He said instead of using guns for self-defense, Auburn students should focus on solving problems that would cause a crime.
"I think in the long term that would go a long way more than allowing every kid to carry a gun to class," Gallardo said.
In either case, the University isn't budging on the issue.
"President Gouge has made clear that he wants to keep this a gun-free campus and to use appropriate measures where they are fit," Gallardo said.
The University is keeping guns off campus and addressing changing laws with Public Safety's new locker.
Shamp, however, says he won't use it.
"That's definitely a step closer to the direction of firearms on campus, but definitely not something that Students for Concealed Carry on Campus would support since that's still restricting our individual capacity to defend ourselves," Shamp said.
"That's just one more piece of red tape you'd have to go through."
(11/20/14 4:27pm)
Savannah Duke crouched down to the ground and plucked shoots from the plant in front of her.
Duke, senior in horticulture and president of the Auburn Horitculture Club, then dropped each one into the white plastic bag next to her.
"We're going to be selling them tomorrow to game-day traffic," Duke said. "This is our first harvest because this is actually our first garden since we've started the club back, so it's kind of exciting."
After several years of inactivity, the group started again this semester.
"(The club) went dormant for a few years, and with this group of students, we decided to bring it back," said Jay Spiers, associate professor in the department of horticulture and adviser of the Auburn Horticulture Club.
"We're lucky to have all these students interested in gardening and fruit and vegetable production," Spiers said.
Despite great attendance in the '60s and '70s, the club died from lack of interest.
"People kind of lost sight of it," Spiers said. "It was down to, maybe, a handful of students interested in doing things. When they graduated, it just kind of ended."
In 2013, the club has 40 students.
"We haven't been a very active club for the past five years, so this year we're trying to revitalize everything and boost attendance and membership and be more active in the community," said Ariana Parsons, freshman in horticulture and club historian.
The club contributes to the community by harvesting collard greens, beets, kale, three types of lettuce, cauliflower and cabbage for the Auburn Campus Kitchens project.
"Once professors are finished using the gardens behind the Old Rotation next to the Hill dorms, they let students take their plants home," Parsons said.
The Horticulture Club harvests food from its own winter garden and from gardens students leave behind.
Duke said the club is also planning to help install teaching gardens within local schools.
"Once fall starts up, we can get out there and help establish gardens," Duke said. "When it's time to be planting tomatoes, peppers, anything like that, we can teach children and teachers about growing."
In addition, Spiers said interest in local food has grown recently.
"There's a big movement toward locally grown produce, and buy fresh, buy local and knowing where your food comes from and people wanting to know how to grow their own food," Spiers said. "I think with all these documentaries and all these books... people have started to notice."
The club's members said they enjoyed the work they do with the Horticulture club so far.
"I just love planting stuff," said Meghan Reid, junior in horticulture. "I love being able to eat your own food that you've grown yourself."
ChunKun Jiao, graduate student in physics, said he joined the Horticulture Club to connect with his heritage.
"I lived in the countryside in China for more than 20 years, and my parents are farmers," Jiao said. "I feel I have that connection to the land. I'd like to do some gardening, and they provide us a good chance."
The club is open to any student interested in gardening.
The club meets Thursdays in Funchess Room 160. Prospective members can email Duke at sld0017@Auburn.edu.
(11/18/13 9:00pm)
Feeling stressed? Too tense? Poor posture? Try Tai Chi.
Auburn residents can now choose between two Tai Chi groups to better their physical or mental well-being.
"Tai Chi is a physical and mental training system and martial art," said Richard Johnson, a graduate student who teaches the two-credit-hour class offered by the University.
Johnson leads students every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m.
When the weather permits, the class meets in a shaded glen between the tennis courts and the old track.
To an outsider, Tai Chi appears to be a series of slow, steady movements from one state to another.
Johnson leads the class, demonstrating each form and helping students focus on posture and form.
"A lot of people have found applications for health, both physically and mentally, and some people even use (Tai Chi) as a spiritual center," Johnson said.
Non-students can learn Tai Chi through a new program offered by the Office of International Students.
Qin Cai moved to Auburn with his wife and offers free Tai Chi classes every weekday in front of Foy Hall at 11:30 a.m.
"I think Tai Chi is good for health," Cai said. "I teach classes to benefit everybody here."
Cai offers classes by Goodwin Hall and at his home at 265 Virginia Ave. as well. He invites anyone to join.
"Any people can join us, young people or old people," Cai said. "The door is open."
Auburn Abroad Director Deborah Weiss said she enjoys the class, despite having only two days' experience with Tai Chi.
"It's energy, and it's relaxation, and that's really conducive to getting your work done," Weiss said.
Johnson also said he recommended Tai Chi, saying students get unique benefits from it.
"I had a guy who was a rugby and soccer player, and he figured out ways to improve his rugby and soccer," Johnson said. "I had another guy who was a fireman. He figured out ways to use Tai Chi in a firefighting situation that helped him do his job better."
Mary Craig, senior in biomedical sciences, said Johnson's class is very interesting.
"I do a lot of yoga, and I do martial arts, and I wanted to try something like that," Craig said.
"It makes you think of what you're doing in a different way, and it's something new."
Johnson's class is more structured than Cai's. Johnson assigns a report on a topic within Tai Chi, and the students discuss each others' papers.
"Simple, not a major thing," Johnson said.
He also requires students to complete a practical final exam by displaying a Tai Chi form and a few exercises.
"It's not too rigorous, but it's a lot more structured than most Tai Chi instruction usually is," Johnson said.
The two classes differ in a few key ways. Only students can take Johnson's University-offered class, and anyone can practice with Cai.
Johnson's class had 14 students in attendance while only three attended Cai's class.
Johnson said he has a certain way of teching.
"What I've had to do with this class is move everyone along together," Johnson said.
"There's some advantage to that, but certainly the people don't get as much individual attention as I would like."
Students interested in the university-offered class can sign up for it through Auburn's website or email Cai at ChinaTaiChi@hotmail.com.
(11/06/14 3:24pm)
Shravanthi Mouli, graduate student in pharmacal sciences, walked onto the stage holding a microphone. She stepped forward and began singing softly.
She sang the words of the Ganesh Vandhana, a traditional Hindu prayer recited before religious rituals.
Her prayer and the lighting of an oil lamp marked the opening of Auburn's 2013 Diwali festival.
The Indian Students Association held a celebration of Indian culture and music in the Student Center Ballroom Saturday, Nov. 2, for 250 attendees.
Diwali is the third part of a five-day religious festival known as the Festival of Lights.
Although they could not include certain traditions, such as fireworks and candles, because of safety concerns, the ISA worked to create an authentic Diwali experience here in Auburn.
Colorful patterns called rangoli covered the floors.
The stage was lit by small lamps beneath a white sash.
Attendees dressed in traditional Indian garb, including the dhoti and half-saree.
The garments were brightly colored and adorned with glittering edges.
The first part of the celebration focused on music, featuring a 30-minute performance led by Shiladitya Chaudhury, associate director of the Biggio Center.
Chaudhury's group played with a mixture of Western and Indian instruments, using guitars and a veena, a stringed instrument with a distinctive gourd-shaped attachment near the neck.
The program also mixed in modern Bollywood tunes with classical pieces.
"It's contemporary music, so all the children like it," said Avanti Kulkarni, cultural vice president.
A group of children from local Indian families showed their appreciation for Bollywood with a group dance number.
The biggest hit of the evening was a musical mashup about Rajnikanth, a well-known Indian actor. After, the ISA served traditional Indian food to the guests.
Robin Muthukumar, who serves on the ISA's sports committee, said she liked the food the most, besides hearing the song "Maduraikku Pogathadee" performed in Tamil, his native language.
"It was great," Muthukumar said.
ISA president Narendra Sadhwani said Diwali was his favorite festival, despite the logistical challenges for the club.
Kulkarni said the club spent approximately one month preparing for the event and making personal nametags.
Kulkami said she hoped the Diwali festival helped introduce more people to Indian traditions.
"We want people to know about Indian culture too," Kulkarni said. "We just want people to know what our culture back home is and enjoy it."
(11/05/13 2:00pm)
I first heard of the end times and the coming eternal damnation on a sunny Wednesday afternoon outside the Ralph Brown Draughton Library.
A man in a plain blue polo shirt, round glasses and khaki pants stood outside the front steps handing pamphlets to people passing by.
The small black print on those narrow slips of paper labeled wars, rampant homosexuality, religious apostasy and AIDS as signs of a looming "Day of the Lord."
"You need to think about where you're going to spend eternity," said Brad Caldwell, member of Sand Hill Church.
Caldwell hails from Sand Hill Bible Church, just past Chewacla State Park in an unassuming one-story building at 4505 Sandhill Road.
Wednesday services take place in a small room with wood paneling and plush red chairs.
Forty six people sat in the room, scattered across the chairs. They prayed alone for the first 30 minutes.
A low buzz of speech filled the room, but most of the adults spoke in a language only they and God could allegedly understand.
They weren't crazy. They were praying.
Sand Hill members believe those who have been saved twice, (once as Christians and once by the Holy Spirit), can pray in tongues, similar to the apostles in the Bible.
Pastor Robert Freeman Jr., 58, related his first experience with the phenomenon when he was a young man.
"I was praying there at a big oak table and I prayed and asked the Lord to baptize me with the Holy Spirit and he did," Freeman said. "I began to speak in another language I've never learned before in my life. I have since then, any time I've wanted to, prayed in that language."
Eventually, Freeman stood behind a wooden podium on a small stage before the assembly.
In a room full of incandescent yellow can lights, a single pale fluorescent panel above the lectern made Freeman's white hair, beard and shirt glow.
He gripped the sides of the podium, leaned forward and emphasized God's love was like fire.
Freeman comes from what he called "the old school of preaching."
Conversations with Freeman reveal his encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible. He quotes chapter and verse from memory, even citing the original Greek and Hebrew words.
After the service, a half dozen members stayed behind to greet each other.
The people of Sand Hill Bible Church were welcoming and friendly. They looked me in the eye when they shook my hand.
Although Freeman describes the church as nondenominational Christian, the easiest comparison is the Amish with electricity.
Sand Hill Christians forgo sports, television and other activities they see as "unChristlike" in order to focus on "wholesome alternatives."
"My husband and I got rid of our television when our first child was a year old," said Judy Freeman, Robert's wife.
They also prefer to keep themselves separate from the world which they find immoral.
"We cannot wed the world and win Christ at the same time," reads another pamphlet.
Freeman knows the church's views stand against the world.
"Every person who becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ is going to encounter opposition from the world... that's inevitable," Freeman said.
Scott Roney, member of Sand Hill Church, brings the message to Auburn's campus.
Every Wednesday, he stands outside the library and preaches.
Roney exhorts students in a loud, gravelly voice to repent and serve Jesus.
I stood by Roney and watched the students pass.
Most ignored him.
A few stopped to talk to James Hartford, 54, Roney's companion. Hartford provided pamphlets and conversation to anyone interested in the church.
Freshmen Rachel Solorio stopped to talk to Hartford and left holding one of the church's tracts.
"I love that people are sharing who they believe Christ is," Solorio said. "I don't know if the yelling is the best possible way to go about that, you know?"
Roney said other Christians often disagree with his methods.
"We live in a lukewarm Christian culture," Roney said. "All I'm saying is with a loud voice that Jesus is coming."
The students treated the visitors from Sand Hill hesitantly.
"I do plan to read it," said Caitlin Thorn, a graduate student studying aerospace engineering, who held another pamphlet.
Solorio said she planned to come back to talk to the Sand Hill visitors once she understood more of their religious doctrine.
"The fact that people are willing to go out and proclaim the name of Jesus, that's cool to me," Solorio said.
(10/31/13 1:56pm)
Nick went out in flames.
Nicholas Klann held the gummy bear, nicknamed after himself, over the tube for a second before dropping "Nick" to his demise inside a solution of potassium perchlorate.
A stream of white smoke poured out of the tube, but without the flame Klann anticipated.
Burning gummy bears was just one of several demonstrations by the Auburn Chemistry Graduate Student Association at its tailgate outside the chemistry building Saturday, Oct. 26 before the football game.
Working with the American Chemical Society and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, several graduate students performed experiments for an enthusiastic group of children.
"We have a really strong oxidizing agent inside of a test tube, and we melt it with a bunsen burner flame," said Phong Ngo, chemistry and bio-chemistry Ph.D student.
"Once it's molten, you drop in any sugar source -- in this case, it'll be gummy bears -- and it'll cause very large flames or an explosion. It's pretty cool."
The young audience named each gummy bear after a graduate student before it was dropped into the tube.
"We just have some simple, fun explosions and color-changing experiments," said Jessica Brooks, graduate student studying bioanalytical chemistry.
When she put Mentos inside a bottle of generic cola and created a spout almost as tall as the nearby pillars, Brooks covered the sidewalk in front of the chemistry building with soda that exploded from the bottle.
"It's just so much fun," Brooks said.
The CGSA kept a table in front of its tent covered in experiments, including a self-stirring solution that changed colors every few seconds and a pumpkin exhaling smoke from dry ice.
To the right of the table, Anne Gorden, associate professor of organic chemistry, ladled out chunky vanilla ice cream made from liquid nitrogen.
The graduate students also made slimy blue silly putty with glue and borax, an experiment that drew attention.
Klann dipped an apple in liquid nitrogen and hurled the apple onto the sidewalk, causing it to shatter.
The kids watching talked among themselves at the sight.
In the background, the adults helped themselves to the free food the club gives out every week.
"The department always has had a departmental tailgate," Ngo said. "Having a student organization that was responsible for raising funds and putting on demonstrations like this would help fund it, and we used those funds to help start the tailgate."
The CGSA students arrived at 8 a.m. to set up, even though the Auburn vs. Florida Atlantic game started at 6 p.m.
"Hopefully, this will be the first of an annual event," said John Gorden, assistant professor of chemistry.
Gorden said he hopes the event will attract more potential students to learn more about chemistry.
"There's really not a lot of activities for kids to think about science," Gorden said.
The CSGA also wants to bring a larger group of current students.
"I know we've had a lot of undergrads come by and stop and they'll talk to us," Brooks said. "They're like, 'Oh, these people are normal, chemistry's not that bad.'"
(10/31/13 1:00pm)
On May 11, 2013, Darcy Corbitt was born at 21 years of age.
With her friends gone for the summer, Corbitt moved a couch, three bookshelves and more than 350 books into an apartment to start her new life.
She had $70 in her checking account. It was the day before her birthday.
The Auburn University senior no longer wanted to go by her birth name, David Hall. She wanted to start again as Darcy.
"When I was really little, 3, 4, I thought I was a girl," Corbitt said. "I went by a girl's name in my mind, but I never told anyone because I knew it was socially unacceptable."
Corbitt struggled with such feelings throughout her childhood and said despite being born biologically male, she never felt like a man.
"I tried to be that person for 18 years and it didn't fit me," Corbitt said.
With help from her friends, she began exploring the idea of living as a woman.
Bonnie Wilson in the Women's Initiatives Office said she recalled a poignant conversation about gender identity with Corbitt when she still went by David.
"I asked her, 'if there weren't any barriers, what would you be?'" Wilson said. "And (Corbitt) said, 'a woman.' And I said, 'then that's what you are.'"
Corbitt said she also credits Spectrum, Auburn's Gay-Straight Alliance, with helping her come to understand her identity.
"If I didn't have the GSA, I don't know what I would have done," Corbitt said. "I'd have probably killed myself."
When she still used the name David, Corbitt said she came within seconds of committing suicide after being outed as someone attracted to men.
"The only thing stopping me was I couldn't break the razor blade out of my razor," Corbitt said.
"I just kind of thought that was funny. I laughed, and I thought, 'I can't really kill myself. I've got so much I can do in the world.'"
Corbitt fully accepted being Darcy last May, on her 21st birthday.
The transition hasn't been easy. Some friends offered minimal support for her new public identity.
Corbitt said her best friend from high school, a girl who drove three hours from the University of Montevallo to see her during their freshman year, unfriended her on Facebook last summer.
"You post a lot of gay stuff," Corbitt said the friend told her.
Corbitt said she recently ran into her former best friend. When Corbitt tried to start a conversation, the friend showed little pleasure in seeing her.
Other groups have reacted differently to the news.
Corbitt sent an email to every professor she's worked with in the past to let them know about the change.
The faculty responded with immediate and
overwhelming support.
"The University was really classy about it," Corbitt said.
Today, Corbitt said she embraces her identity as a woman. She dresses in a women's suit with thick-frame glasses, a red-and-orange scarf and a purple shirt to match her purple wristwatch.
Silver eye shadow and lipstick adorn her face. Her fingernails bear pink Ballet Slippers nail polish, which she said she fidgets with when nervous.
Her friends admire the change, citing its positive effects.
"I saw how it truly made her happy to do that," said Alyssa Patterson, a junior who shared English classes with Corbitt. "She's so much more confident in who she is."
In conversation, Corbitt appears confident. She laughs easily and jokes about blasting "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, her favorite song, at annoying neighbors.
In her new life, the senior majoring in English and psychology serves as director of social affairs for Spectrum, an advocacy group for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender (LBGT) students.
Corbitt said she hopes to attend graduate school to become a therapist for LBGT teens.
Her friends spoke highly of her academic work.
"She's a good G--d--- student," said Kelly Tsaltas, senior in psychology.
Corbitt's peers said they also admire her intelligence.
"She's really smart and cognizant in how people think and feel and express themselves," Wilson said.
Corbitt said she would prefer to remain at Auburn for graduate school, but thinks she'll probably attend another institution.
Until she leaves, she also wants to stay close to her parents. They declined to comment for this story.
Corbitt said she understands her transition has been difficult for her mother and father, but she would have been unhappy any other way.
"My whole life, all the decisions I've ever made, I've made for love," Corbitt said. "I came out for myself, the second time because I wanted to be happy."
(10/16/14 3:28pm)
Auburn Police Sgt. Darrell Downing moves between groups of police officers in neon-yellow vests. He checks their positions against his color-coded chart and briskly answers questions.
He's helping prepare Jordan-Hare Stadium for Saturday, Oct.12, game against the Western Carolina Catamounts.
Golf carts whiz by carrying people around the stadium, food vendors wearing blue Auburn jerseys lean against their counters and the Tiger Eyes members take pictures of each other on the 50-yard line.
Police officers cluster in groups. They smoke and talk and wait until the moment when 87,451 fans will stream into the stands and watch the eagle circle the field.
Game day is Auburn at its busiest. The Auburn Police Department relies on help from state troopers and officers from other counties to handle the 80,000-200,000 fans who descend onto the town.
Ensuring the masses have a safe and enjoyable experience requires weeks of planning and coordination. Luckily, they've had practice.
"It runs like a well-oiled machine," said Police Cpt. Lorenza Dorsey, who organizes the detectives in plain clothes roaming campus in unmarked cars.
"We've gotten really good at it," said Sgt. Brock Young, supervisor of campus operations.
The police handle thousands of minor details on game days. They check parking barriers, answer visitors' questions, look for lost purses and stop numerous attempts to sneak into Jordan-Hare Stadium.
They place officers throughout the stadium for security.
Officers watch for the usual problems: intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Downing said he finds students passed out in the student section from too much alcohol and too little water.
"A lot of times it smells like a bar coming through here," Downing said, as he stood by the entrance gate.
He recalled one incident in which a student tried hiding cans of beer taped to his legs under baggy jeans, and called it the most creative attempt at smuggling alcohol he's seen.
The police randomly search visitors for weapons, alcohol and other contraband.
Officers find so many knives that the University keeps a table where students can check their knives to pick up on the way out.
During games, they monitor the crowd. For Dorsey, Young and Downing, this means missing the action.
"You get to catch a couple plays here and there, but you're supposed to be watching the crowd," Downing said.
All three are Auburn fans, so missing the game is a drawback to the job.
"You want to see it, but we're getting paid to do a job, and we're responsible," Young said.
Working inside the stadium can be difficult in the massive crowd. Downing keeps his phone on vibrate because the noise drowns out the ringtone.
Once everything finishes, Young said getting fans safely out of Auburn can be tough. Managing traffic presents a serious challenge to a small town better acquainted with country roads than highways.
The police station provides officers at 20 intersections and turns East Samford Avenue into a one-way street to help the flow of traffic.
According to Young, the end of a long Saturday game day is a relief.
"I'd be lying if there wasn't some frustration," Young said.
Young said the job has its benefits, though.
"I'm a fan, so I enjoy being around athletics," Dorsey said. "When it's a big game and the fans are into it, it's exciting."