National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

April 13, 1998

Division II panel aims for greater diversity in governance

A project team is initiating efforts to achieve greater diversity throughout all levels of Division II governance, in what appears to be the first effort by a membership division to address diversity issues in a long-range manner.

The Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity, which had its first in-person meeting March 5, is considering actions ranging from immediate steps to increase the pool of nominees for governance bodies to long-term efforts to encourage minority involvement in intercollegiate athletics.

Those long-term efforts may include programs ranging from diversity-education workshops to minority-enhancement internships to community youth programs -- all designed to specifically address diversity objectives in Division II.

The project team's first specific recommendations -- anticipated later this spring -- likely will focus on enlarging the pool of minority candidates for positions on the Division II Presidents Council and Management Council and on Division II committees.

Noting small numbers of ethnic-minority chief executive officers and athletics administrators at Division II institutions, the project team likely will recommend steps to bring diversity issues to the attention of CEOs at Division II institutions. Those steps could include the introduction of resolutions at the 1999 Convention designed to educate CEOs about diversity concerns and seeking a commitment to achieving greater diversity in Division II.

The project team also is considering more immediate ways of enlarging the pool of candidates for Management Council service, possibly by permitting conferences to nominate ethnic minorities who serve in administrative positions involved in or related to intercollegiate athletics but who are not currently eligible for Management Council service.

Management Council eligibility currently is limited to faculty athletics representatives, directors of athletics, senior woman administrators and conference commissioners. The project team is considering recommending that eligibility be extended to all full-time administrators who are ethnic minorities, as was permitted on the former NCAA Council.

In considering longer-term efforts, the project team is acknowledging that there currently are Association-wide projects that also are aimed at improving minority participation in intercollegiate athletics administration.

The project team is working to identify specific Division II conditions that are affecting efforts to achieve greater diversity -- for example, the limited number of minorities currently available for and prepared for service on governance groups -- and then develop programs that address those concerns without duplicating efforts by other Association entities.

The project team also is considering the budget ramifications of such programs, which could include:

  • Educational programs and materials for the Division II membership, including diversity-education workshops focusing specifically on Division II circumstances (for example, focusing on the fact that many staff members in Division II athletics programs are required to perform multiple duties).

  • Minority enhancement internships, offering meaningful training and experience in Division II conference offices or at member institutions.

  • Community programs, such as sports camps for local youth. The project team discussed how efforts by Division II institutions to increase minority student participation in sports -- particularly "non-major" sports -- ultimately could increase the number of minority coaches and administrators in those sports.

    It noted that the NCAA's Youth Education Through Sports program and National Youth Sports Program has similar objectives, and suggested that Division II-based community programs should focus specifically on addressing Division II objectives.

    The project team -- chaired by Clint Bryant, director of athletics at Augusta State University -- will meet again in late May or early June to finalize its initial recommendations to the Management and Presidents Councils.

    The project team includes three representatives from the Presidents Council -- Jessica S. Kozloff of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Arend D. Lubbers of Grand Valley State University and Allen Lee Sessoms of Queens College (New York) -- and four members of the Management Council -- Doug Echols of the South Atlantic Conference; Alfreeda Goff of Virginia State University; Margaret Harbison of Texas A&M University, Commerce; and Bryant.