National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesAugust 17, 1998
Council acts to help schools meet Title IX obligationsPHILADELPHIA -- The Division I Management Council approved two proposals designed to assist colleges and universities in meeting financial aid obligations as they apply to Title IX, and referred the concept of increasing opportunities in women's sports to other bodies in Division I for further study among actions during its July 27-29 meeting. The Council also voted to support bracket expansion in five sports -- including four women's sports -- and reviewed cost-savings measures within the Division I operating budget. Both were among actions forwarded to the Division I Board of Directors (see story, page 1). The two financial aid proposals would allow Division I institutions more flexibility in meeting minimum financial aid and sports-sponsorship requirements. The proposals were among several submitted by the Financial Aid Committee and are of particular importance in light of a complaint filed with the Office for Civil Rights against 25 schools that the National Women's Law Center alleged did not meet the Title IX requirement that scholarship dollars must be substantially proportionate to the participation rates for men and women. Some of the 25 schools have argued that NCAA legislative limits prevented them from complying with Title IX. The Financial Aid Committee's review of grant limits concluded that the NCAA limits do not prevent compliance with Title IX at the current time but that consideration should be given to adjustments that would aid schools in complying. Three proposals from the Financial Aid Committee concerned changes in the number of awards and counters in Division I-A and I-AA football, but all three were defeated by the Council. The two proposals gaining Council approval differ from existing financial aid and sports-sponsorship requirements for women's sports in that they allow schools more flexibility to sponsor more women's sports than men's, or to offer more scholarship dollars in women's sports than in men's (exclusive of football) in order to achieve overall equity within an athletics program. The first adjustment passed by the Council would amend Constitution 20.8.1.2 to require a Division I institution to provide financial aid that equals one of the following: (1) A minimum of 50 percent of the maximum allowable grants in 14 sports, at least seven of which must be women's; (2) Financial aid representing a minimum aggregate expenditure of $670,000 (with at least $335,000 in women's sports) in 1998-99, exclusive of grants in football and men's and women's basketball, provided the aggregate grant value is not less than 38 full grants, with at least 19 for women; or (3) A minimum in the equivalent of 50 full grants (at least 25 in women's sports), exclusive of grants awarded in football and men's and women's basketball. The second proposal approved would amend Constitution 20.8.3 to require an institution to sponsor at least 14 sports, with at least seven for women and at least two team sports for men (exclusive of football, if offered) and at least two team sports for women. The proposals, which will be combined into a single piece of legislation and distributed to the membership for comment, have an effective date of August 1, 1999. The Council also considered a number of additional proposals from the Financial Aid Committee that would increase the number of financial aid awards in various women's sports. Though the Council declined to support the proposals, it referred the issue of increasing the number of awards in women's sports to the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance and Champi-onships/Competition Cabinets (including sports committees), and the Committee on Women's Athletics, with the provision that such a review incorporate ways to increase participation opportunities in addition to increasing awards. "It is important to note that the Council is not opposed to increasing scholarship dollars for female student-athletes where necessary," said Robert Bowlsby, Council chair and director of athletics at the University of Iowa. "The Council felt, however, that the proposals before us would be a disincentive to adding women's sports and could lead to 'stockpiling' of athletes in prominent programs without adding meaningful participation opportunities." Basketball issues The Council discussed issues related to the basketball recruiting calendar and agreed to propose a broad-based study of issues related to college basketball, including summer recruiting practices and other issues. The action occurred during the discussion of Proposal 98-23, which was initiated by the Recruiting Subcommittee of the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and was designed to address some concerns about basketball recruiting. The Council tabled the proposal to allow further consideration of recruiting issues during the overall review of basketball issues. The Council agreed to work with the Board of Directors to identify individuals (including members of the basketball committees, coaches and high-school representatives) with expertise on particular basketball issues to work with the Council and Board to study recruiting and other issues related to college basketball. The Council recommended that the group be identified as quickly as possible. "There are factors in the sport that frankly threaten the continued influence of our members on the sport," Bowlsby said. "We need broad levels of input in this effort from coaches, high schools, administrators, presidents and other experts to assure that the recommendations that emerge address the broadest of basketball issues, and we need for that to happen as quickly as practical." Subdivisional representation In an effort to resolve concerns about restrictions on subdivisional representation in the Division I governance structure at the committee level, the Council approved and forwarded to the Board a recommendation from a Council subcommittee to review a proposal regarding committee composition (Proposal No. 98-33). The recommendation proposes that NCAA Constitution 4.8.1 be amended to provide that the following committees are not subject to the restriction and that the composition of the committees should be amended as set forth below: Committee on Infractions -- no subdivision restrictions except that all institutional/conference members may not be from the same subdivision. Infractions Appeals -- no subdivision restrictions except that all institutional/conference members may not be from the same subdivision. Financial Aid -- seven members, four from I-A and three from I-AA/I-AAA. Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Men's and Women's Soccer, and Women's Softball -- 10 members each, six from I-A and four from I-AA/I-AAA. The Council agreed to a three-year moratorium (after these recommendations are adopted) on changes in subdivisional-representation restrictions for Division I committees. Cabinet reports In addition to supporting the bracket expansion recommended by the Championships/Competition Cabinet, the Council also supported a cabinet request to approve the underwriting of expenses not covered in NCAA game budgets for championships (for example, shuttle transportation and team mementos). The Council also agreed with the cabinet's recommendation to reinstate NCAA Bylaw 30.10.2.10, which would prevent more than one team from any conference from participating in any preseason exempted football event during the academic year. That recommendation (Proposal No. 98-85) was forwarded to the Board of Directors, which had eliminated the bylaw in April because there was conflicting information about the application of the legislation to the 1997 preseason games. The recommendation is in response to the Board's request that the cabinet review whether the rule should be reinstated, and to evaluate the rationale for the rule and the value of the games themselves. The cabinet has since supported proposed legislation that is currently being circulated to the membership for comment (Proposal No. 98-90) that would eliminate preseason football games after the 2002 season. The cabinet also recommended that the Council support elimination of Bylaws 31.1.4.1 and 31.1.4.4 regarding Sunday competition. The Council reaffirmed its support for the recommendation and forwarded the position of the cabinet and the Council to the Board. Among legislative amendments to administrative regulations that emerged from the cabinet included approval of a recommendation (Proposal No. 98-81) initially from the Division I Men's Basketball Committee to reduce from eight to two years the waiting period for new Division I members to be eligible to represent their conference as the automatic qualifier to the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. In a related matter, the Council asked that the Business/Finance Cabinet review and make recommendations regarding the eight-year waiting period as it relates to new members becoming eligible to receive revenue distribution from the championship and broad-based funds. The Council also recommended that the Board of Directors use its authority to adopt "emergency" noncontroversial legislation to adopt Proposal No. 98-76, which would expand the cabinet's oversight authority over playing rules to include those rules that affect an institution's ability to administer regular-season competition and the ability of a sports committee to administer NCAA championships competition. This would be in addition to the cabinet's existing oversight authority over playing rules regarding player safety, financial impact and image of the sport. Other Bylaw 30 amendments passed by the Council included:
The Strategic Planning Cabinet report included recommendations regarding a four-day format for future Conventions designed to involve much of the Division I governance structure and membership as well as Association-wide committees that have winter meetings. The Council approved the concept in principle, but noted that existing meeting schedules would not allow the four cabinets to conduct their 1999 winter meetings at the Convention. The Council instructed the staff to review options for implementing the cabinet's recommendation, effective after the 1999 Convention, and to continue coordinating the program for the 1999 Convention with the cabinet. The cabinet also requested that the Council propose legislation to allow chief executive officers to vote to override legislation passed by the Board of Directors through written correspondence on occasions other than at the Convention. The Council, however, concerned that a change in override voting procedures is premature at this point and that communication issues between chief executive officers and athletics department members may arise because of a mail-ballot procedure, declined to support the proposal. The Council also referred back to the cabinet a recommendation, supported by the Committee on Women's Athletics but not by the cabinet, to add more specific language to the principle of nondiscrimination set forth in Constitution 2.6; suggested that legal counsel advise whether the recommended policy is too limiting; and requested that the cabinet reconsider its decision and include a more detailed rationale when it reports back to the Council. The Council approved a recommendation, effective for fall 1998, from the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet to establish insurance coverage for women's basketball student-athletes projected to be picked in the first rounds of the professional drafts and the enhancement of coverage for men's basketball, football, baseball and men's ice hockey to reflect increases in professional salaries. The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet also recommended that the Council eliminate the gaps in the legislative citations in the Division I manual, as well as all references to other divisions within the text. The cabinet had forwarded three options for the Council's review, including the cabinet's recommended option and an option to retain the current format. Another option would eliminate the gaps in the citations but retain references to other divisions. The Council tabled the cabinet's recommendation and requested further evaluation by the cabinet and examples of each of the options considered. The Business/Finance Cabinet report included a recommendation to increase the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse registration fee from $18 to $25. The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet had opposed the increase, but the Management Council voted to approve it as a way to defray the rising costs of operating the Clearinghouse and the costs associated with applications for high-school students who do not appear on an institutional request list. That action will be forwarded to the Executive Committee. The Council also directed the cabinet to continue efforts to educate prospective student-athletes about the availability of a fee waiver and to review the possibility of permitting institutions to reimburse student-athletes after they enroll. The Council also reviewed and forwarded to the Board (and Executive Committee) a 1998-99 NCAA budget. It was noted that funding for championships expansion and enhancements should be the highest priority and that the Council expressed no opinion on a proposed allocation to a membership trust or the level of broad-based distribution. Governmental affairs The Council also heard a report from the federal relations office and reviewed two issues regarding the General Accounting Office (GAO). It was noted that a provision that would have required colleges and universities to report four years in advance any changes that may occur in sports sponsorship was defeated by the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the GAO has asked the NCAA to provide sports participation data from the last 10 years in order to examine trends in the decline and increase of teams and the reasons regarding reductions in teams and sponsorships. The Council declined the request because the data was not readily available for the office's publication on August 21. Further, the Council agreed that staff should recommend a policy to allow the NCAA research staff or the Research Committee and an existing governance body to review requests from outside groups for Division I institutional data collected by the NCAA; and agreed that the Council's Administrative Committee should review such requests until a policy has been developed. In a related matter, the Council reviewed a possible GAO study regarding NCAA member institutions' practices related to sports team discontinuation over the past 10 years. The study appears to target, among other issues, the impact of football on decisions to discontinue other sports, and the elimination of other men's nonrevenue sports or reductions or caps on participation numbers in those sports as a way of complying with Title IX. The Council voted that the NCAA conduct its own research (in consultation with the GAO), of this issue to ensure the accuracy of the report by using complete data, rather than the sampling approach used by the GAO. Legislation The Council gave second approval to the following legislative proposals, which were forwarded to the Board of Directors for adoption:
Initial approval Among legislative proposals emerging from the cabinets that received initial approval from the Management Council and that will be circulated for comment include Proposal No. 98-24, which would permit an institution to exempt informal practice scrimmages from the maximum contest limitations in basketball. The Council also approved an annual exemption for the National Wrestling Coaches Association all-star meet (Proposal No. 98-25). Other proposals from cabinets that received initial approval were:
Two proposals were defeated, including No. 98-17 relating to skill-related instruction in sports other than football, and No. 98-26, which would have specified the last Thursday in August as the first permissible date in football. An additional 23 proposals were submitted by conferences for the Council's consideration, one of which was initially approved, one of which was tabled and 21 that were referred to the appropriate cabinets for review. The approved proposal (Proposal No. 98-64) specifies that a federated or division dominant provision that is amended with an immediate effective date shall become effective no earlier that the conclusion of the override period. Among those proposals referred was Proposal No. 98-59, which would prohibit dietary supplements as permissible benefits incidental to a student's participation in intercollegiate athletics that may be financed by an institution.
Other highlights
Division I Management Council
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