A lack of student participation and attendance at athletic events this year has lead ASUI Director of Athletics Grady Hepworth to seek student feedback to increase involvement and Vandal spirit.
An open forum at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Idaho Commons Horizon Room is intended to gain perspective on the issue. The forum is open to all students and will last until 5 p.m. Hepworth said free pizza and drinks will be provided for attendees.
“It seems like attendance has gone down for (football) games because our winning percentage dipped,” Hepworth said. “But at the same time that doesn’t make sense because our basketball team did win a lot this year and attendance was low there too.”
Hepworth said one of his goals is to increase student participation and bridge the gap between student athletes and the rest of the student body.
“A number of the population isn’t interested in the actual sport itself when they go to these events,” Hepworth said. “A lot of people go because it is a social event. But there are also a lot of people that don’t go and that’s something that we can change. We want to get more students to show up and have fun, because these events are fun.”
Hepworth said he and several others within ASUI have been working with the transportation department to move the designated tailgate area to a new location that is accessible to the entire student body.
“There’s an immediate association that tailgating equals booze, but that is a cultural thing,” he said. “We’re trying to make it fun for everyone, whether you’re drunk or you’re sober, over 21 or under 21 — we’re hoping to get some ideas as to what would make students feel more included in the tailgate. Tailgates are supposed to be a school spirit function, a social function.”
Hepworth said other ideas include the creation of a student flash mob group, outreach activities for student-athletes and promotional giveaways.
“We’ve been working closely with the Vandalizers, trying to figure out ways to get more people involved, maybe create more of
a personal feel toward the games
and hopefully get more people interested in athletics,” he said. “We’d like to have some better ideas. When you’re working with the same people the same ideas pop up, so we’re hoping to come up with new ways to attract students.”
Hepworth said certain demographics seem to show up to every event, and he thinks other groups might feel unwelcome or excluded from athletic events. He said
he hopes the open forum will encourage everyone to share ideas and to find out why certain groups don’t attend.
“If students have great ideas we can guarantee they’ll be listened to,” Hepworth said. “This is one of those opportunities for students –for their voices to really be heard. This information will be used going forward.”
Hepworth said ASUI and the athletic department hope many students attend the forum and help the departments gain perspective.
“We just want to know why students don’t go and how we can get them there,” Hepworth said.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]