Beginning with the 2024-2025 sports season, UNK will require students to attend all home Loper athletic events.
The idea for the new policy came from seeing how Loper athletes thrived on crowd energy when students showed up for their teams.
“We had a few games where students showed up and brought the noise for our athletes,” said athletic director Bark Meower. “The crowd elevated the play of our athletes, so we knew we had to find a way to bring in a consistent crowd throughout our seasons.”
Under the new policy, UNK has created over 50 new jobs on campus. As they hired ushers that will go from door to door in each residence hall and ensure that students are present at games. Students living off campus are accounted for as well, with 15 of these ushers designated as, “off campus Loper round up specialists.”
Attendance will be monitored by students having their UNK ID’s scanned at the entrances of all athletic venues. For every one student that does not appear at a Loper sporting event, one parking spot will be removed from campus and a $20 fine will be posted to the student’s account. Even when the fine is paid, the parking spot will not return.
“We think this is a great way to help students hold each other accountable,” said new UNK head of ushers Bob Hart. “By threatening to take away their precious parking, we can ensure students will never miss out on the great athletics we have on campus.”
Students that are unable to attend an athletic event must go to their MyBlue account and submit a waiver. The new no-show waiver is a quick and simple 32-page report that students must fill out and return within five minutes of starting to fill out the waiver. It must also be notarized.
The new policy may seem intimidating at first, but officials have some tips to make the process go smoother.
“To make this new policy implementation easier, we recommend students start going to as many events as possible now,” Meower said. “We know it can be hard to get out and socialize in this digital age, but it’s a key part of the college experience that we don’t want anyone to miss out on.”
The policy will go immediately into effect beginning on April 1, 2024. Making the first home sporting event with mandatory attendance the April 5 softball games against Washburn.
DISCLAIMER: This story is a part of our annual April Fools’ issue, this story is not real. Happy April Fools’ Day!
