Students will not hear “Jump Around” at Badger football games

for at least the next two years, according to University of

Wisconsin officials.

Fans who sit on the west side of the stadium have “expressed

uneasiness” about students jumping after third quarter every year,

but the new Camp Randall renovations gave Athletic Department staff

an extra incentive to sack the song, Athletic Department spokesman

Steve Malchow said.

Malchow said the decision stemmed from the large number of calls

and letters received annually from adult fans complaining about

“Jump Around,” but new construction surrounding the stadium this

year pushed the Athletic Department to temporarily suspend the song

during this “season of caution.”

“This whole season, we’ve taken a cautionary approach,” Malchow

said. “This seemed to be the appropriate year [to suspend the

song].”

Construction on Camp Randall will be completed by the 2005

season, when Malchow said “Jump Around” would return. He said the

stadium’s renovation might give the stadium a completely different

feel for fans, although no reinforcements are planned for the

structure beneath fan seating.

Malchow said Athletic Department staff conducts weekly meetings

to review football game days and would discuss “Jump Around” and

any third-quarter backlash by students, but he did not suggest the

department would reconsider playing the song to appease angry

students.

Malchow said the football stands shake during the song and the

press box sways, giving a number of individuals working in the

press box an uneasy feeling.

UW senior Kelsey Mandl, who works in the press box for UW

Athletic Communications, said she can feel the press box vibrating

during the song and see coffee in the workers’ cups sifting around.

However, she said she has never felt unsafe due to the

movement.

Malchow said Camp Randall is architecturally sound and no

renovations are planned for the floorboards underneath the

fans.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said UW police knew in advance

that the song would not be played, leaving the song’s absence a

surprise to no one other than UW students.

When the fourth quarter began and students realized they would

not be given a chance to jump around, they chanted “F-ck the sound

guy,” generously flashed their middle fingers and booed the sound

booth at a volume comparable to a Wisconsin touchdown.

The chanting and gesturing did not fade until the Badgers’

99-yard play leading to a touchdown by Lee Evans, but booing still

resurfaced occasionally.

Editors note: On Wednesday, at 10:30am in the Mendota Gridiron

open meeting that students can attend.