The Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct is calling for a campus-wide approach to sportsmanship.

The panel used its recent meeting in Indianapolis to focus on sportsmanship as an institutional issue, not just an athletics concern, and strongly emphasized the need for broad university support.

“We think a campus-wide committee is in order,” said John Blanchard, a senior associate athletics director at North Carolina and chair of the committee. “This is an institutional issue. It’s not restricted to athletics. For us to have a strong sportsmanship presence on campus, various elements of the university need to pull together and push the initiative. They don’t have to respond to negative behavior, necessarily, but it’s important to set the tempo and culture of respecting opponents and protecting the fan experience.”

The call for a campus-wide approach to sportsmanship was part of a broader effort to update the best practices included in the sportsmanship online tool kit housed on the committee’s Web site.

The group also spent time expanding Phases I and II of the Respect campaign, the national sportsmanship initiative the committee launched in January. Phase I of the campaign focuses on fan behavior, while Phase II deals with creating a campus culture of respect and integrity. The committee added examples for each step of the phases to give campuses ideas on how to apply the suggested guidelines.

In other actions, the committee reviewed the details of a proposed partnership with the American Football Coaches Association to promote sportsmanship.

The proposed “AFCA/NCAA Respect Weekend” is tentatively scheduled for the first weekend of the 2009-10 football season. That weekend, participating teams and coaches will shake hands at the middle of the field just before the coin toss and a public address announcement provided by the NCAA will explain the campaign.

The AFCA has indicated strong interest in the partnership and has forwarded the proposal to its board of directors for review. The initiative would build on current sportsmanship efforts by the AFCA and would come on the heels of a recent emphasis by the organization on the traditional postgame handshake between coaches.

Blanchard said the joint effort between the NCAA and the AFCA will bring increased attention to sportsmanship and to the campaign’s key messages of respect and integrity.

“This is an effort by a lot of people, but the AFCA and football coaches can bring us the visibility we need,” Blanchard said. “I think in the eyes of the fans, who we’re really trying to reach, it brings home the importance of sportsmanship, respect and integrity. When you have prominent coaches under the leadership of (AFCA Executive Director) Grant Teaff drawing attention to this critical issue, it just elevates the whole initiative.”

Blanchard and the committee also sees the partnership with the AFCA as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of fans positively supporting their teams while still respecting the opposing team. “We need to make some cultural shifts on how we treat opponents,” he said. “Hopefully this involvement with the AFCA will help us get there.”

The increased exposure of an NCAA-AFCA partnership would build on campaign messaging and signage that appeared at a few championships this winter and spring, including the Women’s Final Four, Men’s Frozen Four, Men’s College World Series, Women’s College World Series and Division I Men’s Lacrosse. The committee noted that campaign materials may be downloaded for inclusion in game programs or for Web site use, and other larger items such as banners and turnstile stickers may be purchased for dressing venues by visiting www.ncaachampspromotion.com (username is ncaa; password is membership).

The committee also discussed the creation of an NCAA Fan Code of Conduct in response to a presentation by Mary Wilfert, NCAA associate director for health and safety, on best practices for alcohol management, fan conduct and safety developed by the TEAM (Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management) Coalition. Acknowledging that recent membership and public survey results identified fan behavior as a critical and pressing issue, the committee created a subcommittee to consider the need for an NCAA fan code of conduct.

Blanchard said he believes a code of conduct would help the Association articulate its position on sportsmanship and expectations regarding fan behavior.

“We want fans to move away from the negative cheering and taunting of opponents and officials to just being a positive support for their team,” said Blanchard. “We can put this in writing, make it clearer and give some direction in what we mean by sportsmanship. This has been successful in some of the professional sports and we want to bring that to the college level.”