The NCAA News - News and FeaturesMay 4, 1998
CEOs move to end proximity policy in II
Further review of potential costs requested
The Division II Presidents Council approved Management Council actions involving championships policies -- including the concept of eliminating the geographic-proximity policy -- and student-athlete involvement in governance during its April 21 meeting in Indianapolis.
The Presidents Council agreed to support the concept of eliminating the geographic-proximity policy, pending further review of travel costs and other budgetary implications.
Elimination of the policy could permit a No. 1-seeded team that meets other criteria to serve as a host in preliminary rounds of a championship, regardless of the location of its campus.
The Presidents Council agreed that the Division II Championships Committee should work with the Division II Budget and Finance Committee to obtain more detailed information about the potential budgetary impact of elimination of the policy.
It considered the possibility of eliminating the policy effective with the 1998-99 championships, but ultimately accepted the Championships Committee's and Management Council's recommendation that the policy's elimination be delayed until 1999-2000, in order to permit the Championships Committee to address the budgetary issues and also allow Division II sports committees an opportunity to review site-quality criteria.
The Management Council advised the Presidents Council that those criteria reviews could result in modifications that potentially still could prevent a No. 1-seeded team from serving as a host.
The next step toward elimination of the policy will come this summer, when the Championships Committee compiles more detailed budgetary information and forwards it to the Management and Presidents Councils for review.
Other championships actions
The Presidents Council also took the following actions regarding championships:
Agreed to eliminate Bylaw 31.3.3.4. As a result, in championships where there is no automatic qualification, a Division II sports committee no longer will be required to select an official conference representative determined through regular-season competition or a conference tournament for the championship before it selects another team from that conference.
Approved Grand Valley State University as host institution for the 1998 Divisions II and III Women's Golf Championships and Missouri Southern State College as host institution for the 1999 Division II Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships.
Approved realignment of institutions sponsoring Division II men's soccer from four regions into eight regions, and agreed to adopt noncontroversial legislation to expand the Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Committees from four to eight members each.
Approved increasing the length of the Division II Women's Cross Country Championships course from 5,000 to 6,000 meters (effective in 2000) and the addition of pole vault as an event at the Division II Women's Indoor Track and Outdoor Track and Field Championships (effective in 1999).
Approved funding for a one-person increase in the size of traveling parties for the Division II Men's and Women's Tennis Championships and apparel for volunteers at all Division II championships.
Appointed Albert J. Shannon, president of St. Joseph's College (Indiana), to attend a meeting this fall of chairs of Division II sports committees that govern individual/team championships.
Student-athletes in governance
The Presidents Council also received initial recommendations from a Division II project team that was formed last summer to study ways to involve student-athletes in Division II governance.
Members of the Presidents Council, Management Council and Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) serve on the Division II Student-Athlete Involvement Project Team.
Acting on the report, the Presidents Council agreed with the Management Council in rejecting a project team recommendation that would have permitted a student-athlete to remain on the SAAC for a limited period of time if that student-athlete's enrollment status changes during the student-athlete's term of office on the SAAC.
The Presidents Council agreed that membership on the Division II SAAC should be limited to student-athletes currently enrolled at Division II institutions, and also agreed with the Management Council's stance that the SAAC should be subject to committee membership requirements similar to those imposed on other Division II general committees.
Responding to other project team recommendations, the Management Council:
Joined the Management Council in approving communication between the SAAC and four other Division II committees (Academic Requirements, Budget and Finance, Championships, and Legislation) for the purpose of determining the most effective way to involve student-athletes in those committees' activities.
Agreed to approve intent-based modification of existing legislation (Bylaw 21.7.6.8.1) to indicate that a conference's SAAC representative must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student at a Division II institution in the conference.
Other highlights
Division II Presidents Council
April 21/Indianapolis
Adopted noncontroversial legislation establishing a $2,500 application fee for provisional membership in Division II and establishing a June 15 application deadline for institutions seeking provisional membership during the coming academic year.
Agreed to sponsor proposed legislation at the 1999 Convention to permit complimentary admissions for a student-athlete's two guests and spouse to an annual awards banquet and to permit the provision of "reasonable" refreshments once per year at educational events involving the parents of student-athletes.
Deferred action on a Division II Legislation Committee and Division II Management Council recommendation that the Presidents Council sponsor proposed legislation at the 1999 Convention that would allow recruited student-athletes to receive a permissible outside educational award directly from the awarding agency before initial enrollment at an institution. The Presidents Council requested more information about the proposal from the Legislation Committee.
Agreed that the Presidents Council's liaison to the Division II Committee on Infractions should serve in an advisory role and should not participate in infractions case deliberations or decisions.
Agreed to adopt noncontroversial legislation amending playing-and-practice-seasons legislation in women's water polo and women's ice hockey.
Agreed to sponsor proposed legislation at the 1999
Convention that would permit field hockey teams to participate in three additional dates of competition during the "nontraditional" season, provided they are conducted indoors.
Approved reappointment of 12 current members of the Association-wide Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse and Minority Opportunities and Interests Committees and Division II Academic Requirements, Championships, Legislation, Membership and Nominating Committees and the Committees on Student-Athlete Reinstatement and Infractions; also, empowered the Division II Administrative Committee to make any necessary committee appointments between now and the July Management Council meeting to fill positions that will become available September 1, 1998.
Empowered the Administrative Committee to form a joint Management Council/Presidents Council task force to begin developing a three-year strategic plan for Division II and approved formation of a joint Management Council/Presidents Council subcommittee for 1999 Convention planning, but deferred action on formation of a Division II Communications Project Team until the Presidents Council's August meeting.
Agreed to adopt noncontroversial legislation formally delegating responsibility for review of infractions appeals and Administrative Review Panel cases to the Management Council; also approved a change in the name of the Management Council subcommittee that handles Administrative Review Panel cases to the Division II Administrative Review Subcommittee.
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