<table> </table> LAWRENCE | Curtis Vineyard is caught in the middle of a crossfire. He is a freshman at the University of Kansas, and he likes going to the football games, which means he has a decision to make every Saturday, each time the Jayhawks kick the ball off to their opponent: <em>Should I do the chant or not?</em></p><p>Thus far, Vineyard has decided yes, joining in with the thousands of students who yell, &#8220;Rip his (expletive) head off!&#8221; at the top of their lungs.</p><p>&#8220;I do, kind of just because everyone else does,&#8221; said Vineyard, a native of Marysville, Kan. &#8220;But it&#8217;s probably not one of those things we should do.&#8221;</p><p>Hey, that&#8217;s college. Every student has to battle peer pressure. </p><p>Ever since the chant began years ago &#8212; based off a line from the 1998 Adam Sandler comedy, &#8220;The Waterboy&#8221; &#8212; students join in. But this week, Vineyard and the rest of the KU students are going to hear a different message about the potentially embarrassing chant as the Jayhawks&#8217; home game against Colorado on ESPN2 approaches.</p><p>KU senior Matt Erickson, the editor of the <em>University Daily Kansan</em>, is leading a student-driven initiative to stop the chant. Last Friday, Erickson met with associate athletic director for external relations Jim Marchiony, director of university relations Todd Cohen, student body president Adam McGonigle and linebacker Mike Rivera, among others, to come up with a fresh game plan.</p><p>&#8220;The administration can talk about how it&#8217;s hurting the university&#8217;s image, how we shouldn&#8217;t do it,&#8221; said Erickson, an Olathe native, &#8220;but a lot of college students have the mentality that they&#8217;re not going to listen to what authorities say. We thought if some students stepped out, that would have more influence.&#8221;</p><p>Erickson has been going to KU games since his freshman year. He says the chant existed then, but it wasn&#8217;t very loud or organized. Of course, times have changed. The Jayhawks are defending Orange Bowl champions, hosting nationally televised games, and the student section is packed. The chant can be heard on TV, and, after Colorado, all three of the Jayhawks&#8217; remaining home games have potential for a national broadcast.</p><p>&#8220;Because KU is on a national stage now, that&#8217;s not the kind of image we want to put out about who the students are,&#8221; Erickson said. &#8220;The additional national exposure makes it more embarrassing for me as a student.&#8221;</p><p>So, what to do? How do you convince thousands of students &#8212; some of whom have been drinking alcohol &#8212; to not only wave the wheat but also go against the grain? One thing is for sure: No more will a simple editorial from the <em>Kansan</em> or a dry announcement over the loudspeaker at Memorial Stadium suffice.</p><p>Marchiony said that, as of Tuesday, they had not officially decided on a course of action. It&#8217;s possible that KU coach Mark Mangino will address the students directly. It&#8217;s also possible that some of the players will get involved. Rivera said his idea is to have a contest for students to come up with something less offensive to say that would produce the same result.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a difficult situation,&#8221; Rivera said. &#8220;We love our fans. That&#8217;s a great thing that they&#8217;re doing something together, but there&#8217;s some negative things with the younger kids there and the families and hearing it on TV. It&#8217;s not necessarily representing our university that well. Hopefully, as students, we can get it changed.&#8221;</p><p>Vineyard agreed that the only hope was for the students to hear from Mangino and the players directly.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not about free speech,&#8221; Marchiony said.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about what kind of picture they want to paint of themselves. And that&#8217;s why, ultimately, the students themselves have to decide, &#8216;You know what? This really is not a good idea.&#8217; &#8221;</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ Go to <strong>KansasCity.com</strong> for video blogs from the KU, K-State, MU and college football beats.</p><p></div>