University of Colorado leaders are thinking about splitting up the student section, putting up video cameras that can zoom in on faces and banning water bottles after rowdy students threw trash onto the field last month during CU’s 30-3 loss to Nebraska.
Campus police and administrators also want more security staff at Folsom Field patrolling the student section and at entrance gates, where they would turn away fans who are drunk, CU-Boulder chancellor Phil Di Stefano told regents at a meeting Wednesday.
Regent Gail Schwartz suggested that the university give Breathalyzer tests at the gates to people who look drunk and turn them away if they fail. Regent Michael Carrigan said he wants security to crack down on tailgate parties, where he suspects underage students are drinking alcohol before football games.
“If these are minors drinking on our campus, that’s something we need to take very seriously,” he said.
The university also is considering a policy to ban bottles of water and other beverages from coming into the stadium and requiring vendors who sell bottled drinks to keep the caps so they won’t end up on the field.
DiStefano said he wants the changes in place by next season.
Fans in the student section littered the field with trash and bottles during the Buffaloes’ loss to rival Nebraska on Nov. 25.
Regent Tom Lucero and Tim Carrothers, president of a club called Coloradans for Nebraska, asked CU to change the hostile atmosphere met by Nebraska fans who attend the game.
“When you walk through the parking lots of stadiums, you should be able to do this without anxiously waiting to be accosted,” they said in a statement to regents.
They suggested that CU use ambassadors to greet visitors and incorporate a sportsmanship program into its alcohol- abuse program for students.
Also at the regents’ meeting, CU president Hank Brown announced an overhaul of the university’s accounting system in response to years of internal audits and two recent state audits.
The major changes include reassigning procurement services to the university controller and establishing a training certification process for all employees in accounting or purchasing.
Brown also wants to develop financial-service centers on all CU campuses that would have to approve campus purchases.
He also will change purchase- request forms to require more specific documentation to justify expenses. Any exception to his new policies will require his direct approval.
Two state audits – one on the CU Foundation that came out last month and another expected Monday on the athletic department – helped him see the need for change, Brown said.
It will take several months to reform the system and train university employees, he said.
Regents are expected to vote today on whether to move 44 employees from the president’s and vice president’s offices to a new Denver office.
Regent Pete Steinhauer of Boulder called the proposal unacceptable and said it would give the appearance that the president was abandoning the Boulder campus.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
