Thanh-Dat Vo is a fifth-year student at USC who went to sit in the student section at the UAB game on Saturday. He got a student ticket, scanned his Carolina Card, and was given a wristband. This is the story in his own words:
My girlfriend put my wristband on me and I put her wrist band on for her and a security personnel even gave us a thumbs up which in my mind would make me believe we were good to head inside . We walked inside the stadium 30 minutes prior to kick off to get good seats and nothing was said to me then about the wristband. After the first quarter, I left the stands to get water.
As I was walking inside, a security personnel pointed me out and ask to to come over because my wrist band looked “suspicious” and that I did not put it on correctly. The security personnel accused me of “taping” my wrist band on; that it looked like I had Scotch-taped the wrist band back on. She asked me to follow her and if I had my Carolina ID on me.
This kind of thing happens a lot. People sneak into the student section with every way imaginable. But Thanh-Dat deserved his ticket. It seems like they would be able to rescan his card and give him another wristband.
What happens next is, frankly, appalling:
At this point, I had no concerns or worries because I knew that if they scan my card, the ticket information will show up stating I had requested a ticket during the on-demand phase and was rewarded a lower deck ticket. I followed her to somewhere near Gate 22 where they had a computer and a device set up to scan my Carolina ID.
They scanned my Carolina ID and also ask for my driver’s license. After a minute or so, the response that I got was “Sorry, we can’t let you back into the stadium.” I asked them “Why can’t I get back in? Did you even look in my account?” The response was “once you leave the stadium, you can’t come back in.”
What!? He was led out of the stadium by security, then told that he couldn’t reenter. On Facebook, the official South Carolina Gamecocks page responded with this:
Not clear exactly what happened based on this description, if you were actually removed from the stadium and not allowed back in or if you presented your ID and were allowed to return to the student section, but questions and feedback should be directed to the Student Tickets office.
If your wristband falls off, what is the right way to get a new one?
I spoke with Adrienne White, the Student Ticketing Coordinator for USC, and she said:
“It’s up to the discretion of the police officer, if the police think it’s been tampered with, they can eject the student.”
Which obviously makes sense, but certainly there is a way to get another wristband. According to her:
“The best way if you’re in the lower deck and your wristband falls off you can come back out of the game, go to the box office beside gate 26 and we can get another one.”
Unfortunately, Thanh-Dat wasn’t able to get back into the game this time. Has something like this happened to you? It’s frustrating to hear stories of students who deserve their tickets being ejected without recourse.
