Chancellor John Wiley said Friday the Big Ten has established a three-step process it may implement in light of recent floods of complaints about abusive and violent Badger football fan behavior.
This announcement comes after Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany's previous statement that the organization would most likely not add new policies this year to curb Camp Randall rowdiness.
In the Big Ten three-step plan, the first two occurrences of abusive behavior would result in warnings to the university. After the third occurrence, the conference would require the university to split up the student section and intersperse students among other fans, Wiley said.
According to Wiley, Delany has said the problem of inappropriate fan behavior has gotten worse in the Upper Midwest and in the Southeast in recent years. When asked why this problem was escalating, Wiley blamed cultural trends and a mob mentality.
\Each time the fans try to outdo the last time,"" he said.
This inappropriate behavior of concern is not the obscenities in the student chants, but to verbal and physical intimidation and abuse fans of opposing teams endure.
Though students are usually blamed for most of the inappropriate behavior, Wiley said this is not true.
""I don't think that this is simply a problem of student behavior,"" Wiley said. ""It's a problem of fan behavior.""
Opposing teams' fans have complained to Wiley about the disrespectful way they were treated. Many wrote e-mails to the chancellor stating they felt unsafe and threatened at games.
""The post-game tirades involved students surrounding us, being very caustic and belligerent,"" wrote Robert Poe, an Ohio State fan who attended that game with 48 other Ohio State alumni. ""The seniors in our group were obviously intimidated and somewhat frightened. ... None of [us] will ever return to Camp Randall Stadium for an OSU/Wisconsin football game.""
This behavior was not only present at the Ohio State game. Mark Ashman, a Purdue fan who attended the Homecoming game, also complained.
""There's always some heckling at different campuses, but it's never to the extent we've experienced at Wisconsin. Never,"" Ashman said, who has been to games at all Big Ten schools.
Wiley said many football referees refuse to officiate at UW-Madison because they are the target of spitting and obscenities. He said he believes something needs to be done about this behavior. In addition to the steps that might be taken by the Big Ten, Wiley said the rest of the change must come from the fans themselves.
""I think students are as likely to be a part of the solution as part of the problem,"" he said.
