Loh calls Terp fans’ behavior offensive

The deafening roar of victorious Terp fans at Monday's football game against Navy has quieted, but profane chants shouted throughout Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium still echo in the minds of administrators and SGA representatives, who will begin to tackle the issue of sportsmanship among student fans this semester.

Terp fans reportedly shouting chants such as "f--- Navy" at uniformed Naval Academy cadets were loud and boisterous enough to gain the attention of university alumni, parents, officials and even university President-designate Wallace Loh, administrators said yesterday.

Loh, who will officially take over as president of this university Nov. 1, criticized the fans' behavior after a cabinet-to-cabinet meeting yesterday between university administrators and Student Government Association members. During the meeting, SGA officials said, administrators expressed concern over how student behavior at sporting events may impact the university's image.

"It reflects so poorly on the University of Maryland when these cadets march in and profanity is yelled by the students," Loh said in an interview after the meeting. "It's simply not acceptable."

Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said administrators received e-mails from alumni disappointed by student behavior, parents who don't want to bring their young children to Terp games and even a potential student employer who expressed reluctance at hiring a graduate from this university based on the derogatory cheers.

"It doesn't reflect very well on the university or the students," Clement said. "Our students are more sophisticated and more colorful than that. I want them to demonstrate that. ... I think [those people chanting] think it's cute and off-color, but a lot of people felt we had disrespected the military."

Clement said the chanters were identified as university fans — not just students — and that a large section of the crowd was yelling.

Terp fans have received national attention in the last seven months for rowdy behavior during and after games — most notably the rioting that occurred after the March 4 men's basketball win over Duke, when hundreds of students clashed with police on Route 1.

But at Monday night's game, some Navy fans were disrespectful as well, singing "hom-o-sexuals" at the referees in time with "Rock and Roll Part II," taunting the baton twirlers and shouting obscenities at Terp fans and players.

Although it is commonplace to see and hear disrespectful behavior at university sporting events, Loh said, it is an issue he thinks can be solved, and he will attempt to do so with the help of the SGA.

"This isn't unique to the University of Maryland, and there's no easy solution," Loh said, adding that the partnership with the SGA is a sign of what's to come. "It's that spirit of collaboration, openness and transparency that will mark the relationship between the administration and the students of the University of Maryland."

Clement said a sportsmanship committee run by students may be set up to grapple with the issue on a more peer-to-peer basis.

SGA President Steve Glickman said there was a sportsmanship committee in existence earlier in the decade but that it's time for the issue to be re-addressed.

"I don't believe that students understand the impact that our poor sportsmanship is having on our athletics program and even our university," he wrote in an e-mail. "It is something that can be altered if the right parties have a seat at the table. We have strong leadership in the Greek community and I would hope that would help spearhead this issue."

Although administrators said the cat-calling was overt, not all students noticed the demonstrations at Monday's game.

"The yelling must have not been a large section of the crowd, because I did not hear anything too bad," senior government and politics major Hilary Tebeleff wrote in an e-mail. "People were mostly yelling the usual curse words at the team, not saying anything about our military."

But some students felt that any disrespectful chanting toward Navy was crossing a line.

"It's pretty horrible," said sophomore communication major Nick Fliakas, who watched the game on television. "That's our armed forces, and they should be held to a higher level of respect."

Jaclyn Borowski contributed to this report. redding at umdbk dot com