National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 27, 1997

III restructuring complete, task force disbands

The Division III Task Force to Review the NCAA Membership Structure, which has shepherded the reconfiguration of the division's governance structure in preparation for implementation of the NCAA's new structure in August, conducted its last meeting at the 1997 NCAA Convention.

Noting that the new Division III Presidents Council and Management Council are in place -- as well as the new Budget, Championships and Nominating Committees -- the task force handed responsibility for final implementation over to the Division III subcommittee of the NCAA Presidents Commission and the Division III Steering Committee of the NCAA Council.

As its last act, the task force set in motion plans for a joint meeting of members of the subcommittee and the Presidents Council (into which the subcommittee merges) and the steering committee and the Management Council (successor to the steering committee) at an orientation session at the NCAA national office in February. The feeling is that for the two bodies to work well together, each needs to understand how the other works and the issues before each.

After the orientation and before the April 1997 Council meeting, the steering committee will distribute a questionnaire to the Division III membership soliciting input on what the membership believes should be the goals and objectives for the division. The governing bodies will use this information for guidance in the new governance structure.

In particular, the information will be used to identify objectives during the Management Council's strategic planning session in April.

In other Division III business at the Convention, the steering committee:

  • Amended legislation to state that an individual from the same conference or institution as an outgoing member of the Division III Management Council or of a general Division III committee cannot be appointed "for a period of one year." The intent is to encourage participation from more conferences and institutions in the governance structure.

  • Approved a change to base representation on the new Championships Committee on region, rather than district as previously stipulated. The limited number of Division III institutions in some districts made the change a practical necessity.

  • Amended NCAA Bylaw 21 to change the reference from the "group executive director for enforcement and eligibility appeals" to the "director of eligibility" as the person who must act on an eligibility matter before an institution may appeal the decision to the eligibility subcommittee.

  • Referred to a new ad hoc subcommittee proposals regarding changing maximum-contest-limits legislation for basketball and football student-athletes to halves of contests rather than whole contests. The steering committee felt that the proposals had implications regarding time demands on the student-athletes and that the change should be looked at in regard to other sports. The new subcommittee is expected to make a recommendation to the steering committee in April.

  • Approved a resolution changing the first date of competition for men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball to September 1 or the preceding Friday if September 1 falls on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. The resolution also applies to men's and women's golf and men's and women's tennis if the institution conducts its traditional segment in that sport in the fall. The change adds the allowance for September 1 falling on Monday, as it does this year.