It’s a crisp Saturday morning in January. The birds were singing outside the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and the sun had barely crested over Winston-Salem. Yet, at 8 a.m., a crowd of students was already waiting outside the basketball arena, desperate for prime seats in the stadium. 

It should go without saying that the game that people lined up for so early was the greatly anticipated Wake Forest vs. Duke game — everyone wanted a front-row seat. 

The growing line so early in the morning should have been a warning sign for the impending chaos at the Joel. However, this was a warning sign that many didn’t heed. 

As the time for the game drew nearer, more and more students arrived at the stadium, joining the ever-growing mass of people waiting behind the two skinny metal detectors that served as the only entrances inside. The lack of clear line management caused people to pack closely together. My friends and I found ourselves squished into the backs of others, arms pinned to our sides as the crowd behind us grew impatient with the unopened doors. 

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This uncomfortable proximity quickly turned dangerous. 

At first, the worst thing about the situation was the fact that my chin was resting on a stranger’s shoulder and I could feel the breath of another on the back of my neck. But then, the security made the mistake of opening the two tiny doorways. One by one, people passed through one of the two metal detectors as the crowd behind them pushed forward with desperate and reckless anticipation. 

With nowhere to go, the people at the front of the line were packed even closer together. Now, I could feel someone’s elbow poking harshly into my side as I inhaled another person’s hair. The line went from awkward proximity to unbreathable nearness. 

With each person that entered, the crowd moved forward in an uncontrollable wave. My friends and I linked arms after the first wave in an attempt to stay together. However, once the people behind us began to shove forward, my friend was pushed against a brick column and her arm slipped out of mine. Security shouted at us unhelpfully to stay back, but for the people in the front, that wasn’t an option.

The pressure on my sides became nearly unbearable, and I tried to turn my head to find my friends but found instead someone’s shoulder pressed against my face. I looked at the people around me and found that all the shorter people had their faces up to the sky, trying to gulp down fresh air in the chaos. 

The girl next to me began panting and called 911. There were shouts all around, from both the panicked crowd and the idle security. Security kept barking at the crowd to back up, not realizing that the momentum was coming from the back of the line. The back of the line didn’t know about the compression at the front of the line — they just wanted to get in the stadium. 

One of my other friends was pressed so tightly between the people around her that her feet no longer found purchase on the ground, and she was instead held upright by the packed masses. I watched someone dragged around the metal detector to be let in because security noticed that she was being crushed. Every time someone stumbled through the metal detector, the crowd surged forward again, crushing us together even tighter.

Word spread quickly that someone had passed out, and the panic in the crowd elevated further still. People began to shout back at the security’s useless instructions to “back up.” 

What was supposed to be a line for a college basketball game felt like it was quickly turning into something very different. 

Just as I crossed the threshold of the metal detector, the security opened more doors at the back of the line. The very people causing the compaction problem entered the stadium, while the pressed mob near the front still struggled for air and space. Students who had just arrived at the game were given access to lower bowl seats, while the others who had waited in the tortuous line were left to fend for themselves, completely defeating the point of arriving early. 

Luckily for me, my friends that I had been separated from had managed to fight their way into the stadium already and had saved me a lower bowl seat.

I thought to myself, this is not what a basketball game should feel like. 

Unfortunately, what should have been an exciting game, full of fight songs, tie-dye and three-pointers, was marred by incredibly poor crowd management. While chaos can be expected on a big game day, danger shouldn’t be. The level of panic outside the Joel stadium on the day of the Wake Forest vs. Duke game is unacceptable, and Wake Forest needs to ensure it never happens again. 

First off, the rampant lack of line management must be remedied. My suggestions: The current setup of only two metal detectors is laughably insufficient for the crowds of Wake Forest students. More entrances need to be added to accommodate the large crowds that are expected for such popular games. The lack of infrastructure to organize the line and keep students safe made this situation an accident waiting to happen. An addition of barriers, clear demarcations for the start of the line and staff direction for the line would make a world of difference in the student experience. 

Secondly, the treatment of the security of the students needs to be improved. In my view, while people were being crushed together, security did nothing more to remedy the situation than yell at the people being compacted. Instead of proactively trying to fix the problem, the security lashed out at the masses. When I saw people try to explain the issues of lack of fresh air and space to the security, they were met with either stony silence or hostile, dismissive responses. Security needs to treat the students with respect and handle stressful situations in a calm, organized manner. Student safety should be a matter taken seriously.

During high-traffic events such as those like the Wake Forest vs. Duke basketball game, Wake Forest needs to do more than just hope for the best. They need to plan ahead. 

What happened before the Duke basketball game was a wake-up call. Our safety cannot be treated as an afterthought. There are steps that Wake Forest must take for events like these to be fun, well-organized and free from danger.