National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

II Management Council to leave committee requirements intact

The NCAA Division II Management Council Transition Team will wait and see whether a new requirement that athletics administrators fill at least 50 percent of the positions on Division II sports committees should be modified.

The NCAA Division II Championships Project Team asked the Management Council to support a proposal at the 1998 Convention that would permit sports committees to seek relief from the 50 percent composition requirement in extraordinary circumstances. The project team believes that it may be difficult in some sports to identify enough athletics administrators who possess experience applicable to administering a national championship.

But the Management Council, meeting April 16 in Tucson, Arizona, declined to recommend that the NCAA Division II Presidents Council Transition Team sponsor such a proposal at the 1998 Convention.

The Management Council believes that it is too early for the Division II membership to modify the committee composition requirements that were adopted at the 1997 Convention. It noted that the legislation provides significant flexibility in the appointment of committee members by permitting individuals who perform both coaching and administrative functions to be counted either as an athletics administrator or a coach.

The Management Council also addressed other championships matters during the meeting.

  • The project team requested that the Management Council support a proposal at the 1998 Convention to guarantee representation for each geographical region on every Division II committee that governs a team sport. Current legislation requires such representation only on certain committees, although it has been common practice to attempt to ensure such representation even when it is not legislated.

    In response, the Management Council noted that there also may be individual sports in which committees do not represent all regions. It directed that either the project team or the new Division II Championships Committee review the issue and report its findings back to the Management Council.

  • The Management Council forwarded to the project team a directive from the Division II Presidents Council Transition Team that a comprehensive review be conducted of criteria used to select regional- and national-championship sites. The review will include the current policy requiring the selection of sites on the basis of geographical proximity.

    The presidents also requested development of a policy under which the Division II Championships Committee regularly will report division site-selection criteria and the rationale for those criteria to the Division II membership. The Presidents Council also requested a study of the feasibility of establishing predetermined championship sites in selected Division II sports, including women's basketball.

    Steering committee

    The NCAA Division II Steering Committee also met April 14 in Tucson, in conjunction with the last scheduled meeting of the NCAA Council.

    The steering committee approved noncontroversial legislation to set the first permissible date of competition a week earlier in fall sports during the years 1998 through 2001. The legislation includes the sports of field hockey, football, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball.

    The steering committee also:

  • Received information that Western Oregon State College intends to reclassify its provisional membership from Division III to Division II after the Association's moratorium on new members is lifted, and agreed to credit Western Oregon State at that time for one year of provisional membership.

  • Reaffirmed its intent that 1997 Convention Proposal No. 53 will render ineligible for 1997-98 Division II championships schools that notify the Association by July 1, 1997, of their intent to reclassify one sport to Division I. The steering committee asked the Council to issue an interpretation to that effect.

    In a related action, the steering committee agreed that a school that has expressed its intent to reclassify to Division I but subsequently is unable to meet Division I membership requirements or that subsequently decides it is best to remain in Division II can again become eligible for Division II championships, provided the school demonstrates full compliance with Division II legislation as of June 1 prior to the fall in which the institution wishes to compete in Division II championships.

  • Approved noncontroversial legislation establishing an appointment process for filling vacancies on Division II sports committees.

  • Heard an institutional appeal in an infractions case involving Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

  • Honored three steering committee members -- Kent Wyatt of Delta State University, Diane L. Reinhard of Clarion University of Pennsylvania and C. Donald Cook of Sacred Heart University -- whose service in the Division II governance structure will end with the implementation of restructuring in August.

    Other highlightsDivision II Management Council Transition Team

    April 16/Tucson, Arizona

  • Reviewed a report from the Division II Budget/Finance Subcommittee, which is developing budget principles/guidelines for use in making decisions on the use of funds allocated to Division II in the new governance structure. The Management Council noted the subcommittee's plans to mail a survey to the Division II membership May 15 regarding methods for distributing the Division II enhancement fund and use of a projected Division II surplus. The survey will be mailed to and must be signed by institutions' chief executive officers; directors of athletics, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives will receive a copy of the survey cover memo. Completed surveys will be due June 15 at the national office. The subcommittee plans to hold its final meeting in July, when it will evaluate survey results and forward its recommendations to the new Division II Budget/Finance Committee.

  • Formed a subcommittee of the Management Council to hear appeals of infractions cases by Division II institutions and to receive and act on requests from Division II members that currently are handled by the NCAA Administrative Review Panel. Seven Management Council members will be appointed to staggered three-year terms on the subcommittee, although only five of the seven subcommittee members will hear an appeal of an infractions case.

    In a related matter, the Management Council discussed concerns expressed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions regarding provisions of 1997 Convention Proposal No. 28 that require a member of the Management Council to serve on the new Division II Committee on Infractions and establish the Management Council or its subcommittee as the body that will hear infractions appeals. The Association-wide Committee on Infractions recommended that there be no Management Council representation on the Division II Committee on Infractions or that the Management Council create a separate appeals committee similar in structure to the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee in Division I. The Management Council acknowledged the infractions committee's concerns that a direct link between the initial hearing and appellate bodies in Division II may prompt concern regarding the fairness and neutrality of the infractions process, but declined to make any change. It noted that representatives of a conference that has a member institution involved in an infractions case will not be involved in that institution's infractions-case hearing or appeal, and that the Management Council representative serving on the Division II Committee on Infractions will not be eligible to serve on the subcommittee that will hear infractions appeals.

  • Agreed to identify chairs of Division II general committees as soon as possible in order to expedite the organization of the committees, and also agreed that the Division II Championships Project Team (acting for the new Division II Championships Committee, which will not be formed until July) will handle appointments to fill current vacancies on Division II sports committees.

  • Continued planning for the first annual summit meeting with the new Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in July.

  • Discussed concerns expressed by the Association-wide Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) regarding newly adopted limits on eligibility for service on the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the lack of student-athlete representation on the Management Council.

    The SAAC asked the Management Council to reconsider legislation limiting Division II committee membership to currently enrolled, full-time undergraduate and graduate students. The Management Council declined to recommend a change in the limit, noting that it is the express intent of the new legislation to ensure that student-athletes are represented on the committee by student-athletes.

    The SAAC also again expressed concern about the lack of representation for student-athletes on the Management Council. The Management Council responded that it continues to believe that student-athletes will have more impact on Division II governance through the annual summit meeting and that the student-athlete representation model endorsed by the Division II membership will provide for better conference representation and broader involvement of student-athletes.

  • Noted that Division II legislative business likely will be completed during the Monday session of the 1998 Convention, thus permitting the scheduling of a Tuesday morning workshop designed to assist institutions in understanding the application of newly adopted legislation.

  • Noted that the current Management Council chair's and vice-chair's terms both extend into 1999, and recommended to the NCAA Division II Presidents Council Transition Team that the terms be staggered so that they end at different times. The Management Council agreed that the chair's term should be based on the calendar year (meaning that the current chair's term would end in January 1999), while the vice-chair's term should be based on the academic year (meaning that the current vice-chair's term would end in August 1998).