National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

April 28, 1997

III steering committee discusses new reporting procedures

In its last official meeting, the Division III Steering Committee of the NCAA Council clarified legislation pertaining to new Division III committees and the Management Council as those groups become active as part of restructuring.

Meeting April 16 in Tucson, Arizona, the steering committee discussed the chain of reporting for the Division III Budget Committee. It determined that the Budget Committee should continue to report first to the Management Council, which in turn will send the committee's initial report, along with Management Council reactions and recommendations, to the Division III Presidents Council.

Members of the Budget Committee had expressed concern regarding whether the committee should have a more direct line of communication with the Presidents Council. But the steering committee concluded that it was not necessary to modify the existing language and structure at this time.

The Budget Committee had asked that noncontroversial legislation be adopted to allow the committee to report directly to the Presidents Council.

The steering committee felt that the reporting lines as established by the Division III membership at the 1997 NCAA Convention should be left unchanged until the structure has had an opportunity to work. But the steering committee recommended that the structure, including the committee reporting lines, be reviewed after two years.

In other actions, the steering committee:

  • Determined that the student-athlete members of the Management Council should not have a voting alternate. The NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee had asked that an alternate be appointed in case one of the two student-athlete members of the Management Council is not able to attend a meeting.

    The steering committee felt that because the student-athletes will be full voting members of the Management Council for the first time, they should be treated as other Management Council members, who do not have alternates.

  • Recommended the adoption of intent-based legislation to clarify that the nominations for Division III sports committees shall be submitted by the membership to the Division III Nominating Committee, which in turn will forward a slate to the Division III Championships Committee for appointment. The appointments will be subject to final approval by the Management Council and the Presidents Council.

  • Reviewed the application of Division III legislation prohibiting a representative of a playing conference or member institution whose term on a committee has expired from being replaced on that committee by another representative of the same conference or institution for a period of at least one year. The steering committee asked the Championships Committee to discuss at its planned meeting with all Division III sports committee chairs in August how the legislation would apply to regional advisory committees.

  • Recommended the adoption of noncontroversial legislation exempting the Division III Management Council representative to the NCAA National Youth Sports Program Committee from the requirement that he or she have recent NYSP experience. It was noted that only 11 Division III schools currently participate in NYSP and thus few Management Council members would have NYSP experience.