Two student government committees on Wednesday pushed aside last week’s idea of revoking athletic ticket privileges for unruly students in favor of more student-friendly approaches.
Athletic Department Finance Committee Chairman Kyle McKenzie said he discovered last week that the only way to revoke student tickets is through the Student Conduct Committee.
The Student Senate also decided Wednesday night to create an ad-hoc committee to recommend a list of possible solutions regarding “unclassy fan behavior” to University President Dave Frohnmayer.
The Senate and ADFC agreed that a “major campaign” to publicize the Student Code of Conduct via fliers at the ticket offices and stadium gates was a popular solution, although the new seven-member Senate Fan Behavior Committee will officially draft a proposal Monday, which will then be voted on by the entire Senate on Wednesday night. Senators will also discuss increasing aisle security and looking into NFL and NCAA fan behavior policies.
Although some Senators continued to advocate punishing students who commit major offenses by taking away ticket privileges, the majority agreed that publicizing student conduct code expectations and possibly using Autzen Stadium’s large video screen to encourage students to keep the stadium environment safe was an efficient solution.
ASUO President Adam Walsh said that he wants to keep the “Autzen Power”-type rowdiness that makes the stadium so intimidating to opposing teams, but suggested finding a way to implement University and city rules for dangerous behavior.
“I think that the idea is not to have some, like, draconian feel to the student section, but that when people are throwing bottles from the stands that you can see who did it and pull them out,” Walsh said. “It’s not like just because you pay your fee you have a blank check to just do whatever you want and act a fool. That’s what we’re trying to get across here.”
He suggested finding a way to punish dangerous but not aggressive behavior.
“If you’re throwing something, that’s dangerous, giving someone the finger isn’t,” Walsh said. “It’s just something we should stray from.”
The Senate will not be taking action on the issue, but it will recommend one or more solutions to Frohnmayer, who will then decide which ideas to implement and where funding for advertising will come from. Increasing security in general remained a hot topic among Senators, with some saying it would slow lines, cost too much and increase the likeliness of fights and binge drinking before the game, while other said it would allow for more people to watch the stands for unruly behavior and conduct searches.
Some program leaders suggested to Senator and Programs Finance Committee member Kristin Kato that students or undercover security guards be hired and issue fines that could potentially generate revenue to pay for the increased security, but the ideas were not popular among ADFC members and Senators.
Walsh suggested dangerous behavior should be punished, but aggressive behavior not be severely punished.
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