Despite what many are considering a smooth transition to the new ticketing system, block seating for fraternities remains Greek to some students.

“I had no idea that they do block seating for fraternities,” said Anne Yearta, a senior from Moultrie.

Yearta – who said she has sat in the 308 section of Sanford Stadium for the past three years – arrived with a group of friends an hour and a half before kickoff. The group of eight found seats in the third row and were not stopped by event staff, despite not wearing the wristbands for fraternity members who choose to sit in the block seats – which are different in color from lower section wristbands for other students.

She said she was unaware the section had been reserved through the Athletic Association as block seating for fraternities, and was surprised when a group of pledges told them they had to move.

“We said ‘that’s not right, it’s general admission,’” she said. “The pledges got really angry with that.”

The combination of excited football fans vying for seats, coupled with confusion about the block seating policy turned a small misunderstanding into a commotion that brought police to the scene.

Two stadium event staff and two police officers responded to the third row argument and escorted one of Yearta’s female friends from the stadium.

“She got really upset with the officers,” Yearta said. “She was cussing at them, she should have just dropped it.”

And though there were other students in the section also lacking wristbands, the group was told to leave the section, she said.

“It was kind of sketchy how the event staff said that ‘oh yeah, they [the fraternity] have the right to sit there,’ but said we couldn’t sit there,” Yearta said.

Block seats for students, however, are only located in sections 309 to 312, said Claude Felton, associate athletic director. The fraternity who asked for Yearta and her friends to move were seated in section 308.

But the entire argument may have been avoided with the addition of 90 minutes, a whistle blow and the cheering of 92,746 football fans.

“Once kickoff comes, that area does become general admission,” Felton said.

Until then students need to have a wristband to enter sections that student organizations have requested block seating for.

“An event management staff member could be called over to ask them to leave, to be removed to another section,” said Andrew Rasmussen, Greek adviser for housing management, who helped coordinate the block seating.

“We worked this out with SGA members last year who were not Greek and said they didn’t care because they are the worst seats in the stadium for students,” he said.

And “the worst seats in the stadium” may be the only quality differentiating the seats set aside for the Greeks from general admission seating.

Both the Aug. 27 e-mail sent to students from the Athletic Association, as well as student information listed on GeorgiaDogs.com list the sections that include reserved seating for fraternities as general admission seating.

According to the e-mail and the Web site: “Seating in the student sections are general admission.”

The e-mail and Web site then list sections 307 to upper 316 as student sections – with no information regarding block seating.

This led to the confusion that arose during Saturday’s home opener. Several students said since they had read the e-mail stating the specified sections were general admission, they had no reason to believe there were any restrictions.

After kickoff, the stadium staff who checks student wristbands no longer enforce the regulation.

“I do know that the wristbands are honored until kickoff,” said Claudia Shamp, associate dean of Greek Life. “Beyond that, I can’t speak 100 percent how that was monitored for the rest of the game.”

Shamp said the Greek Life Office is gathering feedback this week to gauge seating reactions from Greek students.

“I’ve never really sat anywhere else,” said Brent Patrick, a senior fraternity member from McDonough who was not involved in the incident. “I just like sitting by my friends and that’s where they are.”

This season, 20 fraternities opted for block seating.

“For a brand new system, I think things ran pretty well,” Shamp said. “With a new system like that, there are always going to be ways you can improve.”