The student government will spend $2,500 in incidental fees to buy banners and beer cup decals that promote classy fan behavior at next year’s football and men’s basketball games.
The fan behavior campaign, which is slated to take effect in fall 2006, is partly in response to Eugene police dragging 70 rowdy fans out of the November Civil War game, an Autzen Stadium record.
The Senate discussed the idea of a campaign following an Oct. 17 meeting with University President Dave Frohnmayer, who discussed the increase in obnoxious fans at football games this season.
Student Senators on Wednesday took a stand against what many of them thought was a false exercise of power by the student government’s executive branch and voted to override a veto and reallocate $2,500 for the advertising campaign.
Although the football season is over and Feb. 18 was the last regular season home game for the men’s basketball team, the Athletic Department Finance Committee has already met with the student-run Allen Hall Advertising group and created the banners and decals for cups at the Moshofsky Center. The Senate voted to give the ADFC the money to cover costs of the decals, banners and “intellectual property” of the AHA group so far.
ASUO President Adam Walsh decided to veto the allocation because he said the campaign could be more effective with financial and creative support from the University administration or the Athletics Department.
Frohnmayer said he was proud of the Senate for taking the initiative and said the administration continues to discuss the issue, but it is not currently taking action.
“It needs to be something that not only students are tasked with,” Walsh said. “I just question how far $2,500 alone will go in changing the culture on campus.”
During a debate prior to the initial allocation on Feb. 15, Senate Ombudsman Jared Axelrod said ADFC shouldn’t just negotiate tickets with the Athletics Department but should work together on issues such as this as well.
“I still think that going at this alone is the wrong way to do it,” said Axelrod, the only senator to vote against reallocating the money on Wednesday.
ADFC Chairman Kyle McKenzie said the banners and cup decals are the first of many steps to addressing fan behavior, and said “once we take a step, people will follow.”
Walsh said in an interview that allocating money this year for a campaign to take effect next year “just doesn’t make sense” because this year’s fees are being spent on next year’s students and because there is no assurance next year’s student government members will implement the campaign.
McKenzie said AHA is waiting to be paid for work it has already done and said he was elected to fill a two-year seat, so he will be around to make sure the program takes effect.
Walsh doesn’t question the merits of the campaign because he’s “the first one to say that I don’t like how our fans act at games.” Instead, he questioned the timing and fiscal responsibility of the allocation, he said.
At last week’s meeting, student government Vice President Kyla Coy said the campaign “shows the virtue of the students and the virtue of the Senate.”
She said she wasn’t as upset with the allocation as Walsh because she had seen the issue develop during the weekly Senate meetings. She was concerned, however, that the Senate focused more on the veto itself and whether the Executive was overstepping its boundaries rather than on the reasons for the veto, which she said were valid and understandable issues.
Coy said there was a lack of communication between her and Walsh and she apologized to Senators for not having her heart in the debate, not coming to the meeting prepared and not representing the Executive well.
Senator Dallas Brown said “it is a slap in the face” of the Senate to question a decision that was supported unanimously at the previous week’s meeting.
“I thought it was pretty pretentious and pretty arrogant,” Brown said.
Walsh said he was not displeased that his veto was rejected.
“I’m glad that Senate feels so strongly that this is something it can accomplish,” Walsh said.

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