U-M tailgaters: 'We're here, don't fear, we're gonna drink more beer!'

In a scene reminiscent of John Belushi's classic speech from "Animal House," two dozen University of Michigan students marched to the top of the promenade deck outside Ann Arbor's city hall this afternoon as U-M junior Joey Juanico shouted a heartfelt ode to tailgating from a megaphone.

"We might not win every football game, we sure as hell might not pass every test, but damn it, we've never lost a party!" Juanico declared, igniting a roaring response from the crowd of student protesters.

Today's planned demonstration organized by Juanico was in response to a recent crackdown by city police on tailgate activities along South State Street. Many of the students among today's crowd were from a fake fraternity called BOX, whose house on South State was ticketed Homecoming weekend along with several other houses.

As the students marched from campus to city hall this afternoon, the sound of the Beastie Boys song "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" echoed from a boom box along with chants of "Go Blue!" and "Hail To the Victors!"

"We're here, don't fear, we're gonna drink more beer!" they chanted in unison at several points.

Jaunico said today's protest was not just about the right to tailgate, but about a tradition.

"Our ability to balance our education and this tradition is what sets us apart from those nerds at Harvard or any other Ivy League school," he shouted during his speech outside city hall. "We're the best because we know success takes more than classes and a desk. It takes a balance we've managed to perfect."

Dressed in a bear costume, U-M senior Al Girard, a spokesman for BOX, said students feel like the city is targeting them and ticketing their houses in an effort to help increase city revenues to confront its budget problems. He said his group has been partying for years at the same location and never had problems before.

"If anything, we're more subdued now," he said.

Ann Arbor Police Lt. Renee Bush and another police officer watched over today's protest. She said the city has no plans to bring the tradition of tailgating to a halt, but does want it to be done in a safe manner.

"They had a great protest today and they certainly have that right," Bush said. "We just want to make sure that Michigan football is safe and family friendly."

Juanico admitted the turnout for today's protest was much lower than expected. More than 1,400 students had confirmed they planned to attend on a Facebook events page but didn't show.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.