The NCAA News - News Features

Extension of membership moratorium recommended

The Transition Oversight Committee, which met for the final time December 3, has recommended that the NCAA membership moratorium be continued until at least the conclusion of the January 1998 NCAA Convention.

The moratorium was established by the NCAA Council August 9, 1995. The primary purpose was to stabilize Association's membership until restructuring was complete.

The moratorium was to last at least through the implementation of the new governance structure. At its recent meeting, the Transition Oversight Committee recommended that it would be appropriate to extend the moratorium until each division has had an opportunity to fully implement its new structure and consider legislation through its new legislative process, which for Divisions II and III would be the January 1998 Convention.

In reviewing the matter, the oversight committee decided that it was important for Divisions II and III to go through the Convention legislative process at least once with the current membership.

The recommendation to extend the moratorium, which will be considered by the NCAA Council and NCAA Presidents Commission at their January meetings, does not mean necessarily that the moratorium will be lifted at the conclusion of the 1998 Convention. Rather, it means that is the earliest time at which the moratorium could be discontinued.

In another action, the Transition Oversight Committee reviewed a request from Robert F. Kanaby, executive director of the National Association of State High School Associations, to establish a liaison committee between the NCAA and high schools. Kanaby envisioned a committee similar to the current NCAA Two-Year College Relations Committee.

The oversight committee agreed that better dialogue with high-school representatives is desirable, but it noted that the Two-Year College Relations Committee is not being retained as an Association-wide committee in the new structure.

In addition, representatives from these groups would be encouraged to attend appropriate committee meetings when those issues are discussed.

As an alternative, the oversight committee suggested that key NCAA staff members serve as liaisons to the high-school federation, as well as to the National Junior College Athletic Association. The liaisons would make certain that all significant issues concerning those groups were referred to the appropriate committees in the new structure.

The Council and Presidents Commission will consider the recommendation in January.

This was the final meeting for the committee, which was established to oversee the restructuring process as it pertained to the entire Association. After the January Convention, assuming that the primary restructuring legislation passes, the governance and committee structure will be in place and ready for implementation in August 1997.