The NCAA News - News & Features

I sets minimum representation goal

The Division I transition Board of Directors, acting on the recommendation of a subcommittee that was assigned to examine the issue, determined that the "minimum goal" of representation for the Management Council should be at least 35 percent for each gender and 20 percent ethnic minorities. The Division I subcommittee of the NCAA Presidents Commission subsequently supported the transition Board's position.

The ad hoc subcommittee recommended the 35 percent figure as a compromise after consulting with the transition Management Council, the Collegiate Commissioners Association, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics and the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.

The recommendation is the middle ground between the subcommittee's initial recommendation of 30 percent and the 40 percent figure that was recommended by the Committee on Women's Athletics and by the transition Management Council in June.

The subcommittee's report noted that the figures may require readjustment in the future.

"The subcommittee recommends that these minimal goals be reviewed regularly by the Board of Directors for possible modification," the report said. "At least every three years, the Board would canvas the membership for its views on the goals and would review the demographics of the division to determine whether changes are warranted."

In addition to agreeing on the representation guidelines, the transition Board and the Commission, which met September 24-25, agreed on a process that would assure that the diversity guidelines are met.

The process would permit the conferences represented in the Division I governance structure to review open positions within each subdivision and attempt to coordinate their choices to meet the diversity guidelines. The Board would review the choices and approve them, if appropriate. If not, the Board would provide the conferences with a second opportunity to meet the guidelines. If the selections were not approved after the second attempt, the conferences each would be asked to submit a slate of four possible selections for the position on the Management Council. The Board then would select the new members, in accordance with the guidelines.

As for the composition of the Board of Directors when a subdivision's choices are not approved, the transition Board and the Commission agreed that each conference with an open position should provide a report on the diversity of its chief executive officers, specifically noting the qualifications and willingness of each ethnic minority or woman CEO to serve on the Board.

In addition, the Commission approved a recommendation from its Subcommittee on Minority Issues (a different group from the ad hoc subcommittee that examined the diversity question) that a minimum goal of one female representative and one ethnic minority representative be established for the Board. The subcommittee recommended that the standard would have to be met with the appointment of two individuals (in other words, the appointment of one ethnic minority female would not satisfy both requirements).

All of the recommendations relating to diversity will be forwarded to the NCAA Council for discussion at its October 7-9 meeting and to see how they can be reconciled with 1997 Convention Proposal No. 2-18. That proposal, sponsored but not supported by the Council, appears in the Second Publication of Proposed Legislation and calls for 40 percent representation for women and 20 percent representation for ethnic minorities on the Division I Management Council. The Council sponsored the legislation, before it knew what the ad hoc subcommittee would recommend, in keeping with its interest in assuring that Division I members had the issue of diversity before them at the Convention.

The Board and the Commission also want the Council to discuss whether the guidelines and processes should be legislated or whether they may be implemented without legislation as a policy matter.

Restructuring matters

The transition Board and the Commission also reviewed several matters relating to restructuring that had been considered earlier at the September 10-11 meeting of the Division I transition Management Council.

Regarding 1996 Convention Proposal No. 7-2, which had to do with Division I revenue distribution, the transition Board recommended and the Commission agreed that the NCAA Council should use the authority provided by Constitution 5.4.1.1.1 to adopt intent-based legislation to specify that 2001-02 distribution proportions will be the benchmark for the revenue-distribution plan in a restructured Division I.

Proposal No. 7-2 set the proportions in the revenue-distribution plan at the time restructuring was adopted at the 1996 Convention as the benchmark for future distributions; however, the transition Management Council had suggested altering the benchmark date because of differences between what the proportions were at the time the restructuring legislation was adopted and a five-year projection that was provided by the NCAA Executive Committee in December 1995. The recommendation will permit the projected figures, which had been provided to conferences for budget-planning purposes, to be used through 2001-02.

Otherwise, the transition Board and the Commission took little additional action on restructuring matters, confirming their own previous actions or noting agreement with positions taken by the transition Management Council at its September meeting.

In one new development relating to restructuring, the Commission noted its opposition to 1997 Convention Proposal No. 2-1, which would delay the effective date of restructuring until February 1, 1998.

In a matter not involving restructuring, the Commission declined to support the specific language of a proposal from the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification that would have stipulated that the "ultimate responsibility and authority for the actual operation of the athletics program" that is required of chief executive officers must include "the hiring of athletics personnel." The Commission was concerned that the specific statement about the "hiring of athletics personnel" could be an unnecessary intrusion into institutional autonomy, even though there was support for the concept.

Also, the Commission reviewed, but took no position on, Proposal No. 2-3. That proposal, cosponsored by the NCAA Council and the Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mid-Continent and Missouri Valley Conferences, would alter the certification cycle for Division I institutions from once every five years to once every 10 years.