Presidents, athletic directors and coaches from the 12 Southeastern Conference schools will join forces this spring to discuss how to create a ‘climate of respect when it comes to crowd behavior,’ University President Michael Adams said in a statement issued Monday.

The decision came after a routine SEC presidents meeting Monday morning in Atlanta. Crowd control already was on the agenda before University fans rushed Sanford Stadium field Saturday in celebration of Georgia’s 21-10 victory over Tennessee, according to the statement.

‘I was particularly concerned that individuals swarmed onto the field before the end of the game and in a way that jeopardized the safety of our players and the visiting team,’ Adams said in the statement. ‘We want to be a hospitable place for our opponents and expect to be treated the same when we go to their venues.’

Most of the hedges surrounding Sanford Stadium’s football field will be pruned back to roughly one foot in height today.

The Athletic Association also has ordered two new goal posts — at a cost of about $12,000 — expected to arrive by Wednesday.

Total damages to the stadium from the celebration are estimated at more than $70,000, according to Associate Athletic Director Claude Felton.

The Chinese ligustrum hedges on the South side of the field were the least damaged and will be reshaped and left standing for now, but hedges on the North side and both end zones sustained ‘fairly significant damage,’ he said.

Felton also said the trampling was worse than the beating the hedges took last year when Georgia Tech fans crowded the field after their 21-19 win over the Bulldogs.

‘By far, this would be the most damage done to the hedges following a game because you’re talking about pretty much all 360 degrees,’ he said.

Dena Carruth, a Roswell resident, said her husband is an alumnus of the University, and, years ago, fans never would have conceived of damaging the hedges.

‘You couldn’t pick a leaf off the hedges,’ she said. ‘You couldn’t touch them. They were just respected. Is it just a total lack of respect? Were they just over zealous? That’s kind of like stepping on Uga.’

Georgia Athletics Director Vince Dooley said Monday he was disappointed at fans’ behavior, but he said he believes they will find the error of their actions when they see the field at Saturday’s homecoming game against Vanderbilt.

‘Homecoming Saturday, we’ll have a stadium that’s not very attractive,’ Dooley said. ‘And I’m hoping those that participated in a celebration that went way beyond a point of respect and tradition will realize what they did.’

Adams said he was pleased with the performance of the almost 300 police and security personnel who attempted to control the crowd, and it would be ‘impossible to hire enough security people to stop a crowd intent on coming on the field.’

Dooley said he expects no additional security to be present for Saturday’s game.

Four other incidents of fans rushing the football field have occurred thus far this season: two at the University of South Carolina, and one each at Mississippi State University and Louisiana State University.

Dooley said fans shouldn’t worry about the hedges, though, because the ‘resilient’ plants will come back healthy and strong.

‘They’re like an old dog,’ he said. ‘They’ll be back. They’ll rise to fight again.’