A bill proposed by state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, would subject Wisconsin’s high school athletic association to state open records laws received a public hearing Wednesday.
The proposal follows searing national criticism of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sportsmanship memo sent out this January to ban time-honored chants like “Airball,” “Fundamentals” and “Sieve.”
The memo claimed that it was merely clarifying existing rules, yet sparked controversy especially after a Hilbert High School basketball player was suspended for tweeting “EAT S*** WIAA.”
High schoolers showed up to games with duct tape covering their mouths, Fox News’ Todd Starnes declared it “the wussification of Wisconsin” and even comedian Stephen Colbert weighed in saying, “Let’s face it, high school is a savage cult and kids will chant.”
Caught up in the hailstorm, WIAA Deputy Director Wade Labecki stood firm maintaining, “We don’t want to coddle them, but we want to respect ‘em, because we want them to respect us back.”
According to the bill’s author, the WIAA receives taxpayer dollars and should be treated as a government entity subject to open records law to ensure transparency and regain public trust.
“WIAA has governmental power and should be treated as a governmental entity,” Nygren said at the hearing.
WIAA Executive Director Dave Anderson protested that his organization was being unfairly singled out and that the bill could upend privacy rights for other nonprofits.
“In my opinion this was certainly a knee-jerk response to a social media storm, we acknowledge that, on the sportsmanship memo,” Anderson said.
