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CU seeks ways to control crowds at football games

More security, thorough check at gate, dispersal of student section studied

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 8, 2005 at midnight

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University of Colorado students heading to football games at Folsom Field next fall could see more security in the stands and on the sidelines, heavier screening at the gate and possibly a new student section.

CU-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano told the Board of Regents on Wednesday he and campus police have been looking for ways to avoid a repeat of the national embarrassment that occurred during the CU-Nebraska game last month.

Officials stopped play for about 5 minutes toward the end of the 30-3 loss at Folsom Field after people in the student section began throwing bottles and trash onto the field.

DiStefano said he and CU Athletic Director Mike Bohn met with Big 12 officials during their trip to Houston last week and generated a list of changes that have worked well in controlling crowds at other stadiums.

That list includes increasing the number of security guards on duty, providing them with more radios, adding video cameras, offering rewards, improving screening and moving or dividing the student section.

CU Regent Tom Lucero, joined by Tim Carrothers, president of the Coloradans for Nebraska fan club, also proposed a university ambassador program. The ambassadors, who would include students, would walk around events, talk with visitors and home team fans and alert security to any problems.

"We would like to see an environment where people from two schools can feel comfortable traveling to each others' stadium in support of their team," Lucero said.

He also asked that the university consider moving or splitting up the student section only as a last resort.

"It can have such a positive impact on a football game, that I certainly would not want to handicap the football team from having them feed off that positive energy by going to that extreme right away," Lucero said.

CU graduate student Jeremy Jiminez, chairman of the Intercampus Student Forum, agreed that changing the student section would be "a huge, contentious issue."

He also said he thinks student behavior at football games has improved greatly since his freshman year, when it was commonplace to see marshmallows rain down from the stands.

But that otherwise good behavior took a "sharp downturn" during the Nebraska game, Jiminez said.

"It was definitely an embarrassing thing for CU, and more so for the students," he added.

Ideas for enforcing better behavior

The University of Colorado is looking at several ways to prevent another incident such as the throwing of debris that delayed the CU-Nebraska football game:

• Add more security along sidelines and in the stands. Make sure they're properly trained, and that more security guards have radios.

• Reduce the number of gates students may use and intensify screening at gates.

• Patrol outside the stadium and detain tailgaters who are underage and drinking alcohol.

• Move student section or split it up so sections are not contiguous.

• Reserve first 10 to 15 rows of student section for upperclassmen, so university has a better idea who is sitting in those seats.

• Offer cash rewards to people who turn in misbehaving fans.

• Add cameras with close-up video feed so security can identify faces in the crowd.

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