The NCAA Commissioners will look more in depth this June at the proposal for a Big 12 Sportsmanship Honor Code.

This honor code is designed to encourage good sportsmanship from all spectators at athletic events.

Student governmental bodies at Big 12 schools have noticed a growing concern over the conduct of spectators at events, said T.J. Schneider, former Government of the Student Body president. They all joined together in an effort to create the Sportsmanship Honor Code.

“It will help educate people about policies, procedures, good fan behaviors and to help reduce any future spectator problems,” said Mike Banasiak, newly elected GSB president.

Currently, there is a sportsmanship honor code for athletes, but not athletic event spectators.

This honor code is more educational in nature and, if adopted by the Big 12 Conference, will be found in a variety of publications such as athletic programs, media guides and Big 12 Web sites. It will also be displayed on jumbotrons and found on the back of sporting event tickets in efforts to remind fans of positive spectator behaviors.

As an incentive to have good sportsmanship, there would be an award given to a Big 12 university that showed overall sportsmanship throughout the year. After the conclusion of the baseball season, ballots would be sent out. Input from alumni organizations, the university president and student governments will help provide information about each university. The number of incidents regarding alcohol, fighting, throwing objects and postgame incidents will also be weighed to determine which Big 12 university should win the award.

At Iowa State, there hasn’t been one specific problem that had raised awareness of this need, but different issues have arisen on occasion. Banasiak said one example was the T-shirts worn by some ISU students during the football game against Nebraska. The shirts had profanity printed on them directed toward Nebraska fans. After the game, fans rushed on to the field to attack the goal post.

Other Big 12 universities have seen problems, such as spectators throwing objects on to the field. There have been incidents where frozen tortillas, oranges and marshmallows stuffed with marbles and rocks have been thrown at the field.

“These guidelines are not to make events less fun, just to make it a better environment for everyone, including players who get distracted during the game by things being thrown onto the field,” Schneider said.

Schneider said they have support from the ISU athletic department on this venture.

“The ISU Athletics Department and Alumni Association support this honor code,” Schneider said. “They were looking for a way to promote sportsmanship better and this is a way to help them do it.”