Report of the President's Committee on Sportsmanship

Prepared for
Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., President
University of Maryland

October 31, 2001

INTRODUCTION

We are pleased to provide you with the report of the Committee on Sportsmanship that you appointed in June 2001. The committee was appointed following a number of incidents that occurred during and after basketball games this past Spring. In appointing this committee, you gave us the following charges: 1) to develop a vision statement that sets forth our university's goals for sportsmanship and civility surrounding athletic events; and 2) to review the actions taken in the Spring 2001 by the Athletic Department and the campus and other policies and practices related to this topic. In conducting our work, we met nine (9) times to discuss the incidents, the existing policies and practices, and recommendations. We reviewed similar events that occurred at a number of other universities and the strategies those schools utilized to respond to them. We conducted two public forums to receive input from the campus. We heard from two student groups who asked to appear before the committee to express their opinions and recommendations. We heard a presentation from Kenneth Krouse, the Chief of the University of Maryland Police, regarding incidents that occurred last spring. We received the results of a survey of undergraduate students at College Park conducted by the Student Government Association (SGA) on matters relevant to the Committee's actions (results in Appendix I).

Our report is divided into two sections. In the first part, we discuss our recommendations for a statement on sportsmanship. This statement was initially drafted by one of our sub-committees and has been reviewed at numerous meetings of the committee. In addition, it was also posted on our website for comment and was distributed during our first public forum. It has been revised many times to reflect the input from various members of the committee. This vision statement sets forth a set of principles and values to guide our campus.

We realize that, like most vision statements, the goals are set very high and some critics may say they are inconsistent with recommended practices. We do not think this should provide a reason to reject this statement. We hope that by gaining campus agreement around these principles we will establish a foundation for continual improvement in sportsmanship at the University of Maryland. The second part of our report addresses a series of specific policies and practices that have been or could be used to encourage enhanced sportsmanship. The most contentious of these has been the issue of whether our band should play the song "Rock and Roll, Part 2" during football and basketball games. While this has been a difficult issue, we hope that evaluations of our report will not rest solely on this one element. We understand the strong feelings that people have about this song, but we hope the other elements of our report will not be lost in the continued discussion of what many of our students see as a tradition they wish to continue.

VISION STATEMENT

Appendix 2 contains the statement we recommend you promulgate as a President's statement on sportsmanship. The statement links our notions of sportsmanship to key campus values and derives from those values, goals and aspirations for administrators, faculty, staff, coaches, student-athletes and fans. In drafting this statement we concluded that it would be important for our campus to set high goals and to use the statement as a springboard to develop more specific programs as well as an educational campaign on sportsmanship. We have found that in most instances, sportsmanship is defined in the negative—what players, coaches and fans should not do. We hope that by defining sportsmanship in a positive way and by linking it to our values, we will provide a stronger foundation on which to improve sportsmanship on our campus. We have had no objections to the statement from any of the constituents who have commented on our work. We have found general recognition of its importance. Some concern has been expressed that it may set the bar too high and therefore will draw attention to our practices and behaviors that do not meet these standards. However, we believe that if we are to make progress in this area, we must begin, as you suggested in your charge to the committee, with a statement that sets forth our goals and not just focus on our current levels of their achievement.

We believe, that in addition to the statement being promulgated, we should develop a sportsmanship creed (a short version of the statement) that would be displayed prominently at athletic events and in material distributed to fans, student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and staff. If you approve the sportsmanship statement, we urge you to ask appropriate personnel to use it to develop the creed.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES

The committee also formed a sub-committee to address specific policies and practices. The full committee debated the report of the sub-committee at two sessions. The draft recommendations were then posted on the web for comment and were distributed at our public forum on October 30th. Following that public forum we agreed on the following recommendations for your consideration.

• Expectations for Behavior

  The committee believes that the campus has to establish more definitive expectations for fan behavior. Our fans need to know what behavior is acceptable and they need to be fully informed about the consequences of failing to meet these expectations. Based on our review of past events, we concluded that this has not been the case in the past. We believe we should employ multiple means of communicating our expectations including, but not limited to the Diamondback, Outlook, alumni publications, ticket distributions, and on-site at events. One element of this definition of expectation would be the sportsmanship creed as noted above, but much more explicit statements should be made about the items that follow so everyone is informed about campus standards for behavior. If you approve any or all of the following recommendations, it would be vital to develop a positive campaign in which these particular recommendations are linked to our notions of sportsmanship and to educate our fans, players, coaches, administrators, faculty and staff about what the expectations are and what the consequences will be if they are not met.

• Throwing Objects at Events

  We recommend that the throwing of any objects at any athletic event be banned. We further recommend that any person who engages in throwing anything be removed from the event and be subject to the appropriate action; i.e., if they are students referral to the appropriate criminal justice agency and/or the Judicial Programs Office; or if these individuals are not students, referral to the appropriate criminal justice or civil agency for the handling of their case. The tradition of throwing newspaper at basketball events was clearly abused by some. We do not think that it can be controlled appropriately and therefore we are recommending that it, as part of this general recommendation, be explicitly banned.

• Signs and Clothing at Games

  We have discussed this topic extensively and have received advice from the University's Legal office. Although some members of the committee believe that some signs and articles of clothing seen at athletic events are not only offensive, but also contribute to violence, the majority of the committee believes that First Amendment rights preclude our prohibiting offensive signs and clothing. Obviously, the signs cannot interfere with the viewing of events by other individuals and our current practice of not allowing signs on poles or other extenders should be continued. We further suggest that, as part of the recommended educational campaign, fans be encouraged to create signs and wear clothing that fosters positive sportsmanship messages rather than the negative ones that so often occur. We are convinced that changes in these areas must come principally from making sportsmanship a higher priority for our campus.

• Removal of the Ten (10) Rows of Student Seating in Cole Field House/Comcast

  Following the events at the Duke basketball game in January 2001, the campus removed students from the ten (10) rows immediately behind the visitors' seating areas and the visitors' bench. We recognize that the incidents that occurred at this game did not emanate exclusively from this area, but it is also clear that the taunting behavior that occurred between those seated in the visitors' area and the student area contributed to the environment that resulted in the post-game incidents. For that reason, we do not believe it would be responsible to risk additional incidents by returning all the seats to general student seating. Nonetheless, we do think it is important to restore student seating in this area. Therefore we recommend returning the top five (5) of these rows to general seating and maintaining the five (5) rows immediately behind the visitors' area for use by registered student groups that agree to exercise the highest standards of positive fan behavior. All student groups interested in being "exemplars of sportsmanship" would participate in a lottery system and agree to be positive role models of sportsmanship. Since the students seated in these five (5) rows would have a heightened sensitivity to these issues and would represent their groups, we think it far less likely that they will engage in hostile exchanges with our visitors. They may also have a positive impact on the behavior of students around them.

  The process of choosing which groups sit in these five (5) rows would work in the following way. At the beginning of the season all interested groups would enter the lottery and five (5) groups, one (1) group for each of the five (5) rows would be selected for each game. Student groups would be notified to pick up their tickets by a deadline; if the tickets were not picked up, an alternative group would be selected. We believe this recommendation accomplishes three important things: 1) it returns all of the seats to students, 2) it assures us that the rows immediately behind the visiting area will contain students who assure us they will behave in ways that are consistent with our principles of sportsmanship and, 3) it starts a new tradition that rewards campus involvement and sportsmanship. When we move to Comcast, a similar procedure should be used.

• Signing of Sportsmanship Pledge

  Last year a student organization received over 1,000 signatures on a petition that suggested we require everyone attending games to sign a sportsmanship pledge. We believe that signing a pledge, while a reasonable idea, is very difficult to accomplish logistically and experience in other venues suggests that it has minimal impact. However, as noted above, we do endorse the creation of a sportsmanship creed excerpted from our general statement on sportsmanship. We recommend that it become the cornerstone for a sportsmanship campaign and that it be widely distributed and prominently displayed at sporting events. In addition, we believe that ticket distribution could be a venue for distribution of the creed, and game programs could be a vehicle for informing fans about the issues, as could announcements before or during games.

• Improvement of Crowd Surveillance in Cole/Comcast

  In reviewing the incidents that occurred in Cole earlier this year we noted the very poor quality of the film that was available to monitor the crowd. We have not explored either technical or cost issues that would be associated with improving crowd surveillance, but we are convinced that it is a necessary step, especially as we move into Comcast. We recommend that you ask the Chief of Police in cooperation with the Athletic Department to develop a recommendation for you, including a budget, on how we can improve camera surveillance of crowds at athletic events.

• Bonfires

  The issue of bonfires after games was discussed extensively. University police have indicated that we cannot guarantee the safety of people during spontaneous bonfires (i.e., those that have not been approved using the policy described below). Given our experiences last Spring and following the Georgia Tech football game this Fall, we believe that we must continue our zero-tolerance policy for spontaneous bonfires. We do not think it should be discussed as a "ban" on bonfires because we currently have a policy that allows fires under certain conditions. This policy provides guidelines and an approval process for "outdoor open fires." These procedures require that approval be obtained in advance from the Office of Environmental Safety to assure that the open fire and arrangements comply with the following:

  • Burning may only occur between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 12:00 midnight (subject to environmental conditions).

  • A fire shall not be more than five (5) feet by five (5) feet by five (5) feet in dimensions and shall not burn longer than three (3) hours.

  • Fuel for the fire shall consist of seasoned dry firewood and shall be ignited with a small quantity of paper. The fire shall not be used for waste disposal purposes and the fuel shall be chosen to minimize the generation of air contaminants. Pressure treated lumber shall not be used.

  • A cleared area of fifty (50) feet must be maintained from the fire to all exposures (to include vehicles, buildings and underbrush). Barriers shall be erected in a fifty (50) foot radius around the fire.

  • A minimum of three (3) class 2A (2-gallon) fire extinguishers must be retained at the fire site.

  • The fire must be supervised by at least two (2) persons who remain in constant attendance during the event.

  • Prior to leaving the area of the fire, an inspection of the area shall be made to assure that the fire is completely extinguished. The fire extinguishers may be used to wet the remaining ashes.

  • The fire may be ordered extinguished if a hazardous condition is determined by a County, State, or University fire or environmental official.

  Therefore, we recommend that you reinforce our current policy, make it clear that there can be no spontaneous bonfires, and instruct the Police Department to enforce the policy vigorously. We also recommend that you take steps to make the campus aware that there is a policy for outdoor open fires and that anyone who wishes to have such a fire must follow that policy. We realize that approving this recommendation may result in future events during which police will have to intervene and take into custody those who do not comply with the current policy on open fires. On the other hand, we are convinced that if the campus is properly informed and if this policy is explained, those who otherwise might participate in spontaneous bonfires will understand and accept this position.

• Other Post-Game Activities

  The committee believes that our fans, especially our students, legitimately want to congregate after certain key evening contests—especially when we win football and basketball games. In this regard our students and our fans are not unique. Such celebrations occur at almost any campus with major sports activities. We have discussed various options for post-game celebrations including fireworks and concerts. Fireworks seem to be too passive and too short of duration to serve adequately as a way to celebrate. Concerts seem to be more viable, but the committee feels there would have to be a commitment to bring good quality entertainment to campus if they were going to be attractive alternatives. Since funds have not been allocated for this purpose, this is not a realistic recommendation. The committee also noted that showing the Final Four game in Cole proved to be very successful, with high attendance and very good behavior after the event. However, the committee also noted that such an event costs about $20,000. The committee is also aware that the desire to congregate and celebrate with other students and fans is a very strong attraction, especially following away games when students have been watching the game alone or in small groups. The desire to celebrate in congregation is probably too strong to counter with alternative programming. In addition, some students have testified to us that they are not interested in responding to an institutionally sponsored activity. The committee then recommends that post game activity be managed by a two pronged approach. First, there should be a clear message about the activities such as spontaneous fires that will be prohibited, as presented earlier in this report. Second, students should be encouraged, with the assistance of campus administration, to develop traditions or sponsor events that can occur following major football and basketball games that will allow our students and fans to celebrate in a way that is consistent with our notions of sportsmanship and appropriate campus behavior.

• Applications of the Code of Student Conduct to Off-Campus Behavior

  The committee met with representatives from the Judicial Programs office to discuss the proposal to extend the Code of Student Conduct to off-campus jurisdiction and misdemeanor convictions. We also note that this matter is being taken up by the University Senate. We have reviewed the proposal that the Senate currently is considering and urge the Senate to approve it. We think that making students aware that their off-campus behavior, especially in the City of College Park, could result not only in criminal charges but also charges under the Code of Student Conduct, will be a very powerful deterrent for unacceptable behavior.

• Rock and Roll, Part II

  As noted above, the area of our activities that attracted the most comment was the issue of whether our band should play "Rock and Roll, Part II" during football and basketball games. Given the strong support for this song amongst our students and other fans, we have no illusion that this song will cease to be sung even if the band does not play it. In fact, our recent experience is that when we do not play the song, it actually is sung more often. We believe that preventing the band from playing it fuels the controversy and thereby encourages the singing of the song, in part as an act of defiance.

  The committee recognizes that some will see approval of playing this song as inconsistent with our vision of sportsmanship. We understand the merits of that position. We also recognize that the vast majority of our students (SGA survey 82%) support the playing and singing of the song at athletic events. For our students, at least the ones from which we heard, the song is neither obscene—having no connection to sexual activity— nor perceived as being inconsistent with high standards of sportsmanship. We understand that many feel this song should not be played. A majority of the members of our committee also feel this way.

  We recommend that every effort be made to encourage our students to find other ways to cheer for our teams that are acceptable to them but more consistent with our notions of sportsmanship. However, much like the issue of signs and clothing, change in this area cannot be mandated and enforced—it will only occur if we continue to educate our community about sportsmanship and the principles on which it rests. Education not rule enforcement—in the absence of a clear demonstration that the behavior causes violence or interferes with the ability of others to participate in an event—is consistent with our mission as a university and our commitment to freedom of expression. In the end, the committee decided that our recommendation to you would be that the song be played by the band, at most, once per half in football and basketball.

  As noted above, we hope that this recommendation does not become the sole focus of our report. We believe that we should not let this issue distract us from engaging in a broader effort to improve safety at athletic events, sportsmanship on campus, and to move us towards more positive ways to support the University of Maryland.

• Taking the Next Steps

  If you accept our recommendations, especially those concerning a continuing effort to increase campus sportsmanship, we believe you will need to charge an ongoing body to oversee their implementation. Therefore, we recommend that you direct the Athletic Council with overseeing the implementation of the recommendations you approve and to propose other steps to improve sportsmanship. The Council should be charged with working with student leaders to monitor campus sportsmanship, seek ways to improve it, and foster the development of positive traditions that support our teams.