President's Committee on Sportsmanship
July 12, 2001, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Meeting Notes

President Mote gave the charge to the committee. He thanked the members for their willingness to serve and emphasized the importance of the committee for the University, indicating that this may be the most important committee he has created since becoming President.

The committee is asked to:

• Look at fan behavior surrounding sporting events -- before, during and after events. Fan behavior is a national and international issue. Dr. Mote asked each member of the committee to put on a "campus hat," bring his/her perspective and knowledge, while at the same time thinking broadly.
  
  
• Seek broad inputs from the campus community as well as outside the campus from alumni, members of the Terrapin Club, and others. These inputs will help the committee to understand the issues by hearing many diverse and divergent views.
  
  
• Look at how other campuses are looking at sportsmanship issues; review the policies and procedures others are following and determine whether those might be useful at College Park.
  
  
• Put together a vision statement for what should be our goals around sportsmanship. Establish a set of guiding principles. What do we want to promote as an institution in terms of fan behavior at athletic events? This is extremely important because all future actions, policies and procedures regarding sportsmanship should be measured against this vision statement. The statement will be a blueprint about how the campus is going to promote sportsmanship and fan behavior surrounding athletic events. It has to be realistic and at the same time something we can all stand behind. The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, the President's office, the Deans, the City of College Park, our students, should all stand behind this vision statement.
  
  
• Present Dr. Mote with a report by the end of October.
  
  Dr. Mote emphasized that this is a very complicated set of issues. He encouraged the committee to be open and inclusive so we can better understand the complexity.
  
  Dr. Mote will present a report to the Regents on July 13th outlining the steps that have and will be taken following the Final Four incidents. A copy of the report will be provided to the committee.
  
  

  Comments from Dr. Mote and Committee Members

  
  
  
• The reality is that this past year we had some pretty serious issues dealing with fan behavior. We need to address policy issues for Cole Field House, Byrd Stadium, Comcast Center, the campus and the surrounding community. The vision statement will be very important in how we, as a campus, move forward.
  
  
• We have great pride in our athletic teams and we should have fun and celebrate their achievements.
  
  
• We should hear all views, including very divergent ones before we move to making any recommendations.
  
  
• We need to reach the whole community -- students, faculty, staff, alumni, and City residents. This should not be interpreted as only a student issue.
  
  

General Committee Discussion

The next two meetings will be held on Thursday, July 26, 2001, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.; and Tuesday, August 21, 2001, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Meeting location will be announced later.

Linda Clement, Chief Ken Krouse, City Manager Dick Conti, and a student to be identified will attend the meeting at Ohio State on August 7th. This meeting is being convened by Ohio State University. The ten schools invited (Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, University of New Hampshire, University of Oregon, Northern Colorado, Penn State, Duke, Arizona and Maryland) are addressing issues similar to those we have been asked to consider. Linda Clement will report back at the August 21st meeting.

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has created a sportsmanship committee chaired by the Florida State faculty athletics representative. Charles Wellford serves as a member. We may consider inviting the chair to address our committee.

Charles Wellford summarized President Mote's charge as the following three tasks:

1. Prepare vision statement -- what do we as a campus understand as sportsmanship. The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and the ACC have sportsmanship statements. The University is also a member of the Arizona Accord that deals with sportsmanship. These documents will be collected and distributed to the committee for discussion on July 26th.
   
   
2. Review and evaluate relevant current practices and policies. Make recommendations on those policies and practices. This includes the 3 major steps adopted by the campus last spring for Cole Field House: removing some student seats near the visiting team seats, not playing Rock & Roll, Part II, and not allowing the throwing of things.
   
   
3. Develop a plan of action for the campus, after considering all information from other groups on campus, alumni and friends of the institution.
   
   

At the July 26th meeting, Ken Krouse, Linda Clement, Debbie Yow, and Rob Waters will report on past incidents.

Meeting Format

Meetings will include committee members only. Charles Wellford will be the spokesperson for the committee. There will be some number of public forums. Invitations to address the committee will be extended to organized groups who want to speak to the Committee. We will create a web site. Committee meeting minutes, drafts of our report, and other information will be posted for comment. Charles Wellford will meet with the Diamondback on a regular basis to keep the campus informed of and to encourage their involvement in our work.