Tailgating at Greek houses and on the LSU Parade Ground for Greeks and other student groups will be banned for the rest of the football season because of a lack of security, officials said Tuesday.

The revamped rules stem from the news that Lofton Security is ending its coverage.

"Lofton has informed the university that it will no longer provide security for tailgating at Greek houses," Angela C. Guillory, associate dean/director of Greek Life, said in an email to chapter presidents and others.

"No other security is willing to provide this service," Guillory wrote.

"Without security, tailgating can no longer take place at the Greek houses for the rest of the 2018 football season," she said. "Tailgating at the Parade Ground will also be prohibited."

The Parade Ground ban also applies to other student organizations.

Earlier this season, student groups and Greek organizations without a house could register for a spot on the Parade Ground, a prime location on game day.

The ban announced Tuesday does not apply to rank-and-file football fans who gather on the Parade Ground before and after games.

Exactly why Lofton is ending its security is unclear.

LSU received an email on Tuesday that made the disclosure.

"Effective today, Oct. 2, 2018, Lofton Security will no longer be providing security services for any fraternity activities," Christi Crabb, an official with the company, wrote in the email.

"If your fraternity has submitted a payment for the Oct. 13th LSU game please come by the office and pick it up," she wrote.

"Lofton's accounting department will be working on issuing any refunds necessary," the email says.

Officials of the company could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Whether the restrictions can or will be challenged legally by Greek groups or others is unclear.

The prohibition will apply to some of the biggest football games of the season, including a contest with Georgia on Oct. 13 and Alabama on Nov. 3.

LSU also faces Mississippi State on Oct. 20 and finishes its home schedule against Rice on Nov. 17.

The announcement comes at a time of heightened focus on fraternity activities in the wake of the death of Max Gruver.

Gruver died last year after he was forced to chug alcohol during a Phi Delta Theta fraternity initiation game. He died from alcohol poisoning and from choking on his own vomit, police said.

Ernie Ballard, a spokesman for LSU, said the tailgating rules stemmed from the Greek Life Task Force and Implementation Committee.

Security rules already applied to Greek houses.

Once tailgating was ordered back to the houses, which took effect this fall, security was required for those gatherings, too.

The issue was discussed publicly during task force meetings after Gruver's death, including input from students representing each area of Greek life, officials said.

+2 Steps to make LSU fraternities safer done but 'not the end of the process' A panel charged with implementing changes to fraternities and sororities at LSU after the death of student Max Gruver has finished its work, s…

The task force implemented 28 changes recommended earlier this year by another study group.

One policy says students caught hazing will be expelled and the fraternities or other student groups involved will be kicked off campus.

The panel was just one part of the response after Gruver's death, including three new state laws aimed at better regulating Greek organizations and preventing hazing.

Last week was national anti-hazing week, including activities at LSU and other state schools, to call attention to the problem.

Ballard said new tailgating plans will be announced later this week.

+6 On LSU's Parade Ground, tailgating much different after Gruver's hazing death, new rules Thirteen years ago, LSU rule changes intended to curb excessive drinking at tailgate parties led to a shift in the action from Greek chapter h…

More than 10 years ago, Greek tailgating was moved out of the houses to the Parade Ground, which members preferred at the time.