Roughly 25 officials and students from the University of Wisconsin proposed various techniques to curb unruly football fans Wednesday night, including shrinking the student section and ending vulgar song chants.
The Fan Behavior Discussion, headed by UW Dean of Students Luoluo Hong, separated proposed solutions into two types, which Hong dubbed “carrots” and “sticks.” Carrots are proactive incentives that operate on a rewards basis, while sticks enforce through punishment.
Some carrot solutions generated include free game books with coupons and player statistics handed out at sporting events, while possible stick solutions include shrinking student sections and increased security at UW sporting arenas.
The Fan Behavior Discussion group said the UW band is an important tool in preventing unruly behavior in the student section of Camp Randall. Mike Leckrone, UW band director and participant in the discussion, said he is prepared to cut songs from the performance lineup in order to keep vulgarity in the student section to a minimum. Problematic chants begin after the band begins to play such songs as “Swingtown,” during which students not seated in section O yell “O sucks,” O responds “Eat sh*t,” and the others reply, “F*ck you.”
“‘Swingtown’ is the worst song (in terms of vulgarity), and I’ve pulled back noticeably on performing it at football games,” Leckrone said. “I’m more than willing to say I’m not going to play that any more if it’s going to be a problem in the student section.”
Leckrone also said that telling the band members to be “clever and not crude” doesn’t always work.
“If you take ‘Swingtown’ away, kids will probably find another song to sing curse words to,” he said.
UW campus and Madison police are also interested in finding solutions to fan behavior problems at Camp Randall.
“We’re understaffed during football games and have to hire out during the event,” a police officer in attendance said. “But these officers are only trained to work within the stadium, and after the game is over, they go home.”
Hong said she plans to integrate more members of the UWPD and athletic department into future subcommittees of the forum.
The Fan Behavior Discussion forum has met twice this year and will continue to meet until UW fan behavior improves. Hong said she plans to divide the forum into subcommittees in order to streamline the decision processes and said the group was “winging it” for now.
“Our goal is to identify key areas with a lot of hope and make plans for the next follow-up discussion,” Hong said. “We want to create an environment that is hostile toward the other team, but not to their fans.”
The Fan Behavior Discussion is a forum created in the aftermath of offensive student and fan behavior occurring at Purdue and Ohio State football games. The group identified recent UW fan problems and proposed solutions to prevent and punish future harassing behavior, hoping to extend the solutions to hockey and basketball games as well.
Participants in the discussion said most fan harassment is fueled by alcohol and that some out-of-line fans do not even attend the university.
“We want to be what Sports Illustrated voted us, the Best College Sports Town in 2003,” Hong said.
Hong added that although the group has no research to gauge exactly where the problems occur, the complaints UW receives come from both inside and outside the stadium.
The group sectioned the abrasive behavior into two problem areas — verbal harassment by the student section during the game and physically threatening behavior occurring outside of Camp Randall.
The discussion group represented many campus organizations, such as the Badger Student Fan Club and the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board, along with student athletes and representatives from the Greek community. Also in attendance were several university officials, including UW Communications writer Dennis Chaptman and Deputy Athletic Director Jamie Pollard.
“The most important thing for the UW student body to know about our organization is that students are leading the effort,” UW Communications spokesman John Lucas said.
