DALLAS -- Most people associate the color and pageantry of college sports with pregame pep rallies, marching bands, high-caliber competition and a hearty handshake from winners and losers alike after a game well played.

Unfortunately, recent unwanted incidents on the fields and courts, in the bleachers, on campuses and in communities are jading the public's perception of college sports as a wholesome enterprise.

That's why more than 100 national leaders in higher education, intercollegiate athletics, city government, media and law enforcement convened February 20 to discuss ways to keep inappropriate behavior and violence from becoming the norm before, during and after intercollegiate athletics events.

The ground-breaking Sportsmanship and Behavior Summit was staged by a coalition of university academic and intercollegiate athletics leaders, including Bowl Championship Series conference commissioners and NCAA Football, which consists of the American Football Coaches Association, the Collegiate Commissioners Association, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the NCAA. The coalition called for the meeting in December after a football season marred by several on-field, on-campus and community incidents after games.

Leaders agreed that the problems were not solely in football. Fan behavior and postgame riots after high-profile games in basketball and other sports have helped signal a disturbing trend in overall college sports behavior. Incidents that occurred only sporadically in the past have become more common in the last two years. For example:

Other negative behaviors have increased as well -- home-crowd fans berating visiting teams and fans, objects being thrown onto the fields and courts, and coaches acting inappropriately toward officials. And while those incidents do not occur in the vast majority of college contests, they receive an abundance of damaging attention when they do.

"Not only has behavior declined, but it has done so at an alarming rate in recent years," said summit chair Vince Dooley, athletics director at the University of Georgia. "This summit was not only a good idea, it was absolutely necessary."

"We know that fans enjoy the exuberance that comes with winning close games," said NCAA President Myles Brand, who provided opening remarks. "Fan involvement is something that should be preserved. But it also should have boundaries, and they've been crossed lately.

"The postgame riots that have been happening more frequently have long-term ramifications on university/community relations, and they provide the impetus for other people to act out in the future. This is the most pressing problem facing universities."

The Ohio State case

Brand was among presenters that included Mike Slive, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference; Ohio State President Karen Holbrook; Columbus, Ohio, Mayor Michael Coleman; Louisiana State University Athletics Director Skip Bertman; Clemson Athletics Director Terry Don Phillips; Ohio State Athletics Director Andy Geiger; and crowd psychologist Dan Wann, a professor at Murray State University.

All summarized the problems the summit was designed to address. Bertman said in the two years since he began directing LSU athletics, the top complaint he has heard from his own fans is the concern for their safety when they travel to other football stadiums. "People tell me they're scared for their life," he said. "Yet, I receive letters and e-mails from non-LSU fans saying they 'feel the fear' when they attend games at our place, too.

"We can't allow a small number of people to make it a bad experience for everyone."

Phillips, who explained Clemson's tradition of allowing people onto the field after football games, said he met plenty of resistance when he proposed changing that policy. "We still need to figure out a way to protect visitors, though, while maintaining the traditions our institutions have," he said.

But perhaps the most compelling presentation came from the Ohio State contingent of President Holbrook, Geiger and Mayor Coleman. They focused on actions that occurred before, during and after the Michigan game. Holbrook showed videotape of some of the pregame behaviors, including derisive behavior toward visiting fans and public drunkenness. "These types of pregame activities -- which often begin the Wednesday or Thursday before Saturday games -- are the foundation of our postgame, late-night problems," she said.

Her presentation also included clips of the riots, where flames from overturned cars plumed while the growing crowd cheered the wrongdoers on.

Geiger, who said his staff spent long hours and thousands of dollars trying to provide safe alternatives for fans before and after the game that would divert the temptation to celebrate violently, said he vividly remembers the euphoria he felt after Ohio State's hard-fought victory and going to bed thinking things were well in hand.

"Then I get a call at 6 in the morning saying we've had the worst night after a football game in Ohio State history," he said.

Columbus Mayor Coleman said the riots "brought national shame to our city." However, he said the tumultuous night may have led to a new day for the community, which Coleman said "wasn't going to tolerate that behavior anymore."

Similarly, Holbrook said Ohio State students were visibly appalled the next day after they saw the destruction. "They didn't want their school to be associated with the images they had seen on the television news," she said.

Holbrook said the Michigan game led students to implement a more stringent student code of conduct. Interestingly, the campus and community experienced only a few minor isolated incidents after the Buckeyes won the national championship a month later, though the game was played in Tempe, Arizona. Geiger said Ohio State officials increased the show of force in and around the campus and community the day of the Fiesta Bowl, which proved to be an effective deterrent.

The Ohio State case led to a preliminary discussion of "best practices" that could help game-management officials establish a safe environment on campuses and in communities. The game-management focus was one of five breakout-group topics that summit participants discussed. The others were campus environment and community relations; student and fan behavior and abuse of alcohol; roles and responsibility of the media; and coach and player behavior. Moderators for the breakout groups were Big 12 Conference Commissioner Kevin Weiberg; Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany; Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson; Pacific-10 Conference Commissioner Thomas Hansen; and Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Wright Waters.

Participants who represented the groups in reports back to the full summit were University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, President John White; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Athletics Director Jim Weaver; Dick McKaig from the National Association of Student Personnel Administration; University of Oklahoma Athletics Director Joe Castiglione; and University of Tennessee, Knoxville, head football coach Phil Fulmer.

Suggestions for game management included identifying possible "goal-post games" before the season begins in order to have adequate time to plan for unanticipated events. Summit participants also urged law enforcement officials to distinguish between uncivil and unlawful acts and arrest those who take part in the latter. Other suggestions included:

Changing a culture

While most summit attendees agreed that those and other game-management solutions were practical -- and in many cases simple -- applications, changing the culture that leads to the negative behaviors will be far more challenging.

At issue seems to be resistance from several parties -- students and student-athletes included -- about significantly altering the competitive environment. That has become apparent to those who have tried to implement change.

For example, Ohio State President Holbrook said that before the Michigan game when she urged students to "think, use moderation and show respect," her office was flooded with
e-mails criticizing the suggestion. "They thought I was attacking or trying to take away the very essence of Ohio State football," she said. Holbrook said students even regarded PSAs using former Ohio State great Archie Griffin touting proper fan behavior as "offensive."

"All of that reaction just because of a mild request," Holbrook said.

Coleman understood the Ohio State CEO's dilemma when he urged that letters be sent to all Ohio State students' parents asking that they tell their kids to act responsibly before, during and after the Michigan game. "I received written responses saying, 'What do you mean telling us not to let our children behave this way?' " Coleman said.

Even crowd psychologist Dan Wann from Murray State said when he told students in his sports psychology class that a summit was being held to address these issues, they were shocked.

"They said to me, 'That's what we do -- we tear down the goal posts. What do you mean we're not supposed to do that?' " Wann said.

"If you want to effect change, you're going to have to change their viewpoint on what is appropriate and what isn't."

Student-athletes who attended the summit echoed the complexities inherent in the current culture. They said if given a choice between a hostile environment and a pleasant one, many athletes would prefer the pendulum swinging more toward the hostile. Past Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee chair Mike Aguirre, a former football student-athlete at Arizona State University, said most student-athletes are prepared for and relish the challenge of away games played on unfriendly turf, though he did say that student-athletes wanted a safe environment for the fans.

"We need to create responsible fans," he said, "but it's not so important that they be polite fans."

That caused some summit participants to wonder perhaps if the whole fan behavior issue is more of a generational matter, with older athletics administrators preferring an environment that existed when they were student-athletes. Most agreed, however, that matters of safety and civility transcended generational boundaries.

Other issues were raised as to the kind of environment schools establish for visiting teams. Ohio State's Geiger said some institutions go out of their way to make the experience for teams an unpleasant one, all in the spirit of helping the home team gain an advantage. "All of our conference offices dispense statements encouraging good sportsmanship that we dutifully read over the public address before the game starts, and then we unleash our venom on visiting players and fans," he said.

One participant referred to a recent basketball game in which the student section had rosters of the visiting team that included the first name of each player's mother, which fueled abusive behavior.

Georgia's Dooley said he understood that teams wanted to make their venues "tough places to play," but that there is a line of civility and decency that should not be crossed. "Maybe we need to encourage 'responsible hostility,' " he quipped.

Guiding local decisions

Perhaps the strongest consensus reached during the day-long summit was that the national-level gathering was just the first step in what will be an ongoing search for solutions.

What will come from the summit will be a collection of guidelines and best practices that conferences and institutions will be able to use to develop their own policies. NCAA President Brand and others stressed that individual institutions must decide their own policies and that it would not be practical for the NCAA or other body to establish a national rule.

"It's too complex of an issue, with different environments and different situations, for there to be a universal rule," Brand said. "But this summit will at least set the stage for developing a best practices document that will help drive decisions at the local levels."

Summit organizers hope to have such a collection ready by this summer. In addition, there will be future discussions and meetings, perhaps even a second summit, to maintain momentum on the issue.

Another consensus reached during the summit was that the vast majority of fans, coaches and student-athletes display exemplary sporting behavior.

"There's so much more good than bad happening in our industry," Oklahoma's Castiglione told the crowd. "Unfortunately, when we focus on an issue like this -- which does in fact need to be addressed -- we forget the many things that already have improved and all the role models we have."

Brand told the audience to advocate for and use those positive aspects to solve the behavioral issue.

"I can't emphasize enough the positive values of the intercollegiate athletics enterprise," he said. "We should not let the problem we face overshadow that, but we do need to resolve it."

Fan behavior may be classified by four levels

DALLAS -- Murray State University professor Dan Wann, who has researched crowd behavior for years, captured the audience's attention at the Sportsmanship and Fan Behavior Summit. Of all the presentations about incidents that have happened and the precautions taken to prevent them, Wann gave summit participants the best perspective about why they were occurring.

He said from a sociological perspective, people tend to do things in large crowds that they wouldn't otherwise do (for example, yelling out after a controversial call or pointing derisively at an opposing player). He outlined the following four behavior levels:

Wann said fans are more likely to act out the more they are "invested" in their team.

"Individual characteristics play a key role in aggression," he said. "The primary trait is how the fan identifies with his or her team. They are more likely to act out if they consider the team as a psychological extension of who they are, or if they internalize the team as their own.

"While you don't want to decrease the number of fans who are 'invested' in the team, you do want to try to change their focus to the enjoyment of the game."

Wann referred to an Olympic model in this regard. He said many fans who enjoy the Olympics do so because of the spirit of competition more than the outcome of the event. "In the Olympics," Wann said, "it's OK to cheer for the team that doesn't win."

But Wann also said that research shows that fans are most rabid in their "investment" in college sports. He said that's why there are far more "goal-post incidents" at college football games than at NFL games.

Wann, as did several other summit participants, also acknowledged that while alcohol was a factor in negative behaviors, it isn't necessarily the primary factor. "The vast majority of inappropriate behavior is not caused by people who have been drinking," he said.

As for measures to take to resolve the problems, Wann said the summit was the best first start he could imagine. He also told participants to focus on multiple levels -- characteristics of individuals as well as crowds -- in developing best practices.

"You don't want to curb that natural enthusiasm or you won't have fans anymore," Wann said. "But you want them to celebrate in a fashion that doesn't put others at risk."

-- Gary T. Brown

Sportsmanship resources

Many institutional representatives who spoke at the Sportsmanship and Fan Behavior Summit February 20 in Dallas said they had established task forces on their campuses to address the issue.

The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention has established a resource that provides campuses with a framework on setting up a task force. It can be found at http://www.edc.org/hec/framework. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention is funded under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education and assists campuses in identifying promising practices on campus alcohol issues.

The NCAA also has a page of alcohol, tobacco and other drug-related information and resources at http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/health-safety/drug_ed_progs/index.