Props to Utah State

Well to their administration at least. Hopefully they take more proactive steps in the future to prevent this from happening again.



http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=50538" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dear USU students and all Aggie fans,



All of us at Utah State University take great pride in the fact that the Spectrum is one of the toughest venues in all of sports for opposing teams. Our fans know how to bring down the house like no others, and every Aggie in the crowd and on the floor is motivated by the enthusiasm supporters bring to the game.



We were disappointed and disturbed, however, during the recent basketball game against BYU. Some fans chose to conduct themselves in ways that went far beyond mere school rivalry, fair play and — most importantly — basic human decency. We have to be able to find some way to display incomparable enthusiasm and school spirit without resorting to crude language, outright vulgarity and deeply personal insults chanted at an opposing player. It is inappropriate for us to invite a guest to come into our home and then have to suffer the language and personal insults tossed at him. We have visited personally with both President Samuelson and Athletic Director Tom Holmoe and apologized on behalf of the USU community.



We take very seriously the promise we make to you when you arrive as students on campus: you will leave here having been held to high academic standards, and you will leave here having been held to high ethical standards. We hold our heads high as we tell your parents, our communities and you that Utah State University is a place that changes lives for the better.



What comes next? We have already begun to redouble our efforts by working closely with the HURD leadership, our cheer squads, ASUSU leaders and our fans themselves to discuss the principles of good sportsmanship and the definition of “Aggie” good sportsmanship. Surely we can find ways to exhibit extraordinary — and extraordinarily loud — school spirit while at the same time being extraordinary examples of character and integrity. We pride ourselves on these principles of behavior both in and out of the classroom.



This is an important issue that must be addressed quickly. Utah State University has the greatest fans in the world. Let that tradition continue.





Sincerely,



Stan L. Albrecht

President



S. Scott Barnes

Director of Athletics

Well done. I hate USU much less now.





The fans are still a bunch of classless D-heads though.

BlueIsBetter wrote:
Well done. I hate USU much less now.





The fans are still a bunch of classless D-heads though.

They've tried this before. The students take it as a compliment.

BerliNY wrote:

Well done. I hate USU much less now.





The fans are still a bunch of classless D-heads though.

They've tried this before. The students take it as a compliment.

Agreed. It's what happens when your whole self worth gets wrapped up in whether your team beats the big brother. ..



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I call BS on the USU administration. They don't really want the taunting to stop, much like the Stanford (or is it Cal?) band that gets a verbal slap on the wrist for their antics. My sister has been one of those in or near the USU student section for years, yelling choreographed insults at opponents. Now that she has children that she takes to the games, she sits far away from the students so her kids don't think she supports that behavior. She says, and I agree, that all the adminstration would have to do to REALLY correct this classless behavior is to spread the students throughout the building. Then, she says, the real Aggie fans would make them tone it down. The USU admin doesn't mean what the letter says.

cougdoc wrote:
I call BS on the USU administration. They don't really want the taunting to stop, much like the Stanford (or is it Cal?) band that gets a verbal slap on the wrist for their antics. My sister has been one of those in or near the USU student section for years, yelling choreographed insults at opponents. Now that she has children that she takes to the games, she sits far away from the students so her kids don't think she supports that behavior. She says, and I agree, that all the adminstration would have to do to REALLY correct this classless behavior is to spread the students throughout the building. Then, she says, the real Aggie fans would make them tone it down. The USU admin doesn't mean what the letter says.

1. It's the Stanford band.

2. Spot on. Everyone saw the posters/taunts coming from a mile away. If the pres of USU really wanted to do something about it, he would have sent the letter the day before the game, not several days after.

Unfortunately, this is all that the USU admin can do right now, post facto. They should have seen this coming, because it was basically being advertised by the students that they were reaching for all time lows in behavior.



What remains to be seen is if USU will do anything beforehand, next time we play up there.

Another thing they could have, and should have done, was get on the public address system during a dead ball and call for those offensive chants to stop. The school president could have addressed the students at that time as well.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Unfortunately, this is all that the USU admin can do right now, post facto. They should have seen this coming, because it was basically being advertised by the students that they were reaching for all time lows in behavior.



What remains to be seen is if USU will do anything beforehand, next time we play up there.

No way. Either the USU Prez has his ___ up his ___ and is completely out of touch with his students (not impossible but pretty unlikely) or he deliberately waited until after the fact to do something to:

1. Grant de facto approval to the students while

2. Riling them up more but also while

3. Appearing to be shocked at their behavior and

4. Apologizing for them without asking them to do the same.



In the letter this guy makes absolutely zero concrete statements, lays out zero changes in actual policy, and basically doesn't saying anything substantive at all which leads me to believe that it's all smoke and mirrors.



But big deal anyhow, we don't play in Logan for another two years (at least) and there are plenty of bigger fish to fry for BYU BBall this season.

BerliNY wrote:

Unfortunately, this is all that the USU admin can do right now, post facto. They should have seen this coming, because it was basically being advertised by the students that they were reaching for all time lows in behavior.



What remains to be seen is if USU will do anything beforehand, next time we play up there.

No way. Either the USU Prez has his ___ up his ___ and is completely out of touch with his students (not impossible but pretty unlikely) or he deliberately waited until after the fact to do something to:

1. Grant de facto approval to the students while

2. Riling them up more but also while

3. Appearing to be shocked at their behavior and

4. Apologizing for them without asking them to do the same.



In the letter this guy makes absolutely zero concrete statements, lays out zero changes in actual policy, and basically doesn't saying anything substantive at all which leads me to believe that it's all smoke and mirrors.



But big deal anyhow, we don't play in Logan for another two years (at least) and there are plenty of bigger fish to fry for BYU BBall this season.

Good points. He condemned with out condemning.

Utah State University. It is a STATE school. It has First Ammendment constraints to deal with, to think that a state actor can take prior restraint actions over individuals over a November basketball game is to ignore reality.



We should all be happy that the administration took the time to wright the letter, and understand that there was little that they should do about it before hand



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

ABYUFAN wrote:
Utah State University. It is a STATE school. It has First Ammendment constraints to deal with, to think that a state actor can take prior restraint actions over individuals over a November basketball game is to ignore reality.



We should all be happy that the administration took the time to wright the letter, and understand that there was little that they should do about it before hand



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

So, since it's a state school, they can't keep inappropriate signs out? I teach at a PUBLIC school and there's plenty of things the students aren't allowed to wear and say. I think you're just making excuses for them at this point, there's plenty that they could have done to clean the place up beforehand and during the game, but they didn't.

Schmoe wrote:

Utah State University. It is a STATE school. It has First Ammendment constraints to deal with, to think that a state actor can take prior restraint actions over individuals over a November basketball game is to ignore reality.



We should all be happy that the administration took the time to wright the letter, and understand that there was little that they should do about it before hand



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

So, since it's a state school, they can't keep inappropriate signs out? I teach at a PUBLIC school and there's plenty of things the students aren't allowed to wear and say. I think you're just making excuses for them at this point, there's plenty that they could have done to clean the place up beforehand and during the game, but they didn't.

A public high school is very different than a public university. There are lots of things that a court will allow a state actor to prohibit a minor from doing, that it will not allow a state actor to prohibit an adult from doing. Remember a state actor cannot stop someone from wearing a shirt that says "f*** the Draft" in a public mall, do you think that it can stop someone from bringing a sign into a game that makes fun of one team's player?

ABYUFAN wrote:

ABYUFAN wrote:
Utah State University. It is a STATE school. It has First Ammendment constraints to deal with, to think that a state actor can take prior restraint actions over individuals over a November basketball game is to ignore reality.



We should all be happy that the administration took the time to wright the letter, and understand that there was little that they should do about it before hand



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

So, since it's a state school, they can't keep inappropriate signs out? I teach at a PUBLIC school and there's plenty of things the students aren't allowed to wear and say. I think you're just making excuses for them at this point, there's plenty that they could have done to clean the place up beforehand and during the game, but they didn't.

A public high school is very different than a public university. There are lots of things that a court will allow a state actor to prohibit a minor from doing, that it will not allow a state actor to prohibit an adult from doing. Remember a state actor cannot stop someone from wearing a shirt that says "f*** the Draft" in a public mall, do you think that it can stop someone from bringing a sign into a game that makes fun of one team's player?

And a public mall is different than a public university, just like a public university is different than a public high school. Is this really that hard? You don't need to be "accepted" into a public mall. There are no terms above and beyond the basic norms and regulations of societal rule upon entering a mall. There are different rules that apply to a university than a mall.





Yes, the university absolutely can (and should) enforce that.



See: any public school with a dress code.



Freedom of speech is not freedom to be a D-bag. There are plenty of places to make fun of a teenage boy that made a mistake, they are welcome to do that over there.

BlueIsBetter wrote:

Schmoe wrote:

Utah State University. It is a STATE school. It has First Ammendment constraints to deal with, to think that a state actor can take prior restraint actions over individuals over a November basketball game is to ignore reality.



We should all be happy that the administration took the time to wright the letter, and understand that there was little that they should do about it before hand



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

So, since it's a state school, they can't keep inappropriate signs out? I teach at a PUBLIC school and there's plenty of things the students aren't allowed to wear and say. I think you're just making excuses for them at this point, there's plenty that they could have done to clean the place up beforehand and during the game, but they didn't.

A public high school is very different than a public university. There are lots of things that a court will allow a state actor to prohibit a minor from doing, that it will not allow a state actor to prohibit an adult from doing. Remember a state actor cannot stop someone from wearing a shirt that says "f*** the Draft" in a public mall, do you think that it can stop someone from bringing a sign into a game that makes fun of one team's player?

And a public mall is different than a public university, just like a public university is different than a public high school. Is this really that hard? You don't need to be "accepted" into a public mall. There are no terms above and beyond the basic norms and regulations of societal rule upon entering a mall. There are different rules that apply to a university than a mall.





Yes, the university absolutely can (and should) enforce that.



See: any public school with a dress code.



Freedom of speech is not freedom to be a D-bag. There are plenty of places to make fun of a teenage boy that made a mistake, they are welcome to do that over there.

And the bottom line is, how much money is Utah State (or, in other words, the state of Utah) willing to pay their attorneys to "prove" that they could censor signs? It'll be hundreds of thousands of dollars even if they are right, and millions if they lose. You know that the ACLU would love to fund this litigation on the student sign side.



How much of your money do you want spent of restraining a sign from being shown to a basketball player?

The university has the right to refuse any behavior they deem inappropriate from their campus facilities. Period. The state or ACLU has nothing against that. They can throw all the money they want to at it and that won't disappear.



OR here's a novel idea. Rather than try and kick out every offending member, just get on over the PA and say:



"If you continue this type of behavior we will forfeit. The next offending sign or chant will result in a loss for the aggies."

BlueIsBetter wrote:
The university has the right to refuse any behavior they deem inappropriate from their campus facilities. Period. The state or ACLU has nothing against that. They can throw all the money they want to at it and that won't disappear.



OR here's a novel idea. Rather than try and kick out every offending member, just get on over the PA and say:



"If you continue this type of behavior we will forfeit. The next offending sign or chant will result in a loss for the aggies."

A few years ago someone brought a ref's whistle to the spectrum, blew it several times and completely threw off the players, coaches, and refs. The PA guy told the students to stop and the entire student section spent the rest of the game whistling.



I think you underestimate the degree to which mob-mentality rules the student section at USU, especially during the game.

This story just got even more stupid.



Apparently, Utah State fans decided to "protest" their school's apology tonight by remaining completely silent in the first half against a very solid Denver team. I don't know how widespread the "protest" was, I've just seen it mentioned on twitter in a few places.



USU got beaten pretty soundly. I don't know how much Denver benefited from the lack of crowd noise; they actually stretched their lead in the second half while USU fans were apparently back on board. But COME ON.



Utah State is known for having a killer home-court advantage, and the crowd is a big part of it. Your school is playing a 4-1 team, they're getting beaten, and you're just going to sit there quietly because your administration apologized to its hated rival? If I played for USU, I'd be PISSED.



I don't like making blanket statements regarding school fanbases, but those actions indicate to me that a fair number of USU fans, especially those in the student section, are far more interested in hating BYU, and acting like goons in general, than they are in actually supporting their team. I'd say the same thing if BYU fans, or any other team's fans, let their team out to dry in the name of sticking it to the Man. Just stupid.

There must be a name for their condition. BYU derangement syndrome? This is really not normal social behavior. Not even the SDSU fans would do something that dumb. And they would do a lot of dumb things, just ask their assistant athletic director. Again, this is where I get really confused about good, intelligent members of the church that enthusiatically throw themselves in with this lot. I'm from Washington, so I guess Iwill never get it.