The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- September 28, 1998

Division I -- Cabinet approves waiver process for religion/competition issue

The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has approved a process by which sports committees can apply for a waiver of legislation that requires a championship schedule to be revised to accommodate institutions with policies against competition for religious reasons.

Discussed during the cabinet's September 16-17 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, the process is the result of the Division I Board of Directors having designated the cabinet as the body responsible for administering the amended version of Proposal No. 98-32 adopted in August.

The legislation requires a championship schedule to be revised to accommodate institutions with written policies against competition on a particular day -- not just Sunday -- for religious reasons by adjusting the championship schedule. A waiver option, however, is built in for sports committees to obtain relief from the rule if they believe that such accommodation would unduly disrupt the orderly conduct of the event.

In developing the waiver process, the cabinet will solicit Division I schools and ask those with written policies restricting competition because of religious reasons to submit written confirmation of those policies to the cabinet by October 5. The cabinet then will circulate those responses to all Division I sports committees by October 9.

Based on those responses, a sports committee then may appeal to the cabinet for a waiver if it believes that adjusting the championship schedule to accommodate those institutions would be disruptive. Such issues that might be cited by sports committees as reasons to appeal for the waiver include missed class time for student-athletes, the availability of championship and lodging facilities, and existing television contracts.

Should the waiver be granted, the sports committee would communicate with the affected schools to determine if those schools would agree to play on the scheduled dates or not be available for selection to the championship field.

Originally, Proposal No. 98-32, which eliminated the need for championship schedules to be adjusted for schools with policies only against Sunday competition, was supported by the Championships/Competition Cabinet and adopted by the Board in April, but that action generated enough requests for an override vote to require the Board to revisit its action.

The Board amended the legislation to take Sunday out of the issue while still acknowledging that schools may have written policies that need to be accommodated.

The amended legislation, though subject to a new override period, is in effect for the fall championships.

In another significant action, the cabinet adopted a policy that would preclude an active head coach from serving as chair of a committee in the same sport.

The cabinet did establish a waiver provision to the policy, however, for committees that represent a sport sponsored by fewer than 60 percent of Division I schools. The cabinet believes that for those committees, the pool of candidates who are not active head coaches may not always be significant enough to provide a qualified chair.

The policy change is a result of the cabinet having surveyed sports committees to determine if an active head coach serving as chair of a committee in the same sport would constitute a potential conflict of interest, if coaches whose team or individuals are participating in the championship are unable to fulfill their role as chair.

In addition, the cabinet believes that the time demands put upon coaches during in-season competition may preclude them from devoting the necessary time to chair a sports committee.

The policy change is effective immediately, though it does not affect current active head coaches who chair a sports committee. Currently, 10 sports committees are chaired by active head coaches, seven of whose terms expire by September 1, 2000.

According to the policy change, subsequent chairs may not be active head coaches.

Exempted contests

Regarding exempted contests in basketball, the cabinet reviewed an Exempted Contests Subcommittee recommendation concerning the 28th game legislation.

The cabinet in July voted to permit institutions during each academic year to compete in a 28th regular-season event, or in one event (game or tournament) either in the continental U.S. or in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, provided the event is certified by the cabinet and the institution does not participate again in the event within a four-year period.

The subcommittee reported to the Cabinet that it was not the subcommittee's original intent to limit schools to participation in one offshore event in four years. Rather, it said an institution should be permitted to participate in each geographic area once in any four-year period.

The cabinet, however, recommended that schools be allowed during each academic year to compete in a 28th regular-season event or in one contest certified by the cabinet, provided the institution participates in no more than two certified events every four years (with no more than one of those being outside the continental U.S).

The cabinet believes this provides basketball programs more flexibility in their game scheduling by permitting institutions to choose to participate in two certified contests every four years, or to add one game to their regular-season schedule annually.

This also permits schools to choose between guarantees offered by event sponsors or the additional revenue from adding a home game.

The proposal also is designed to level the playing field between institutions that regularly are invited to participate in exempted contests and those that rarely participate in those events.

The recommendation, which is subject to Management Council approval in October, would not impact contracts signed before October 21, 1998, that are for contests being conducted after August 1, 2000.

Medical expenses

The cabinet also considered a Management Council referral of Proposal No. 98-59 regarding nonpermissible medical expenses.

The proposal would prohibit dietary supplements (for example, weight-gain supplements, creatine) as permissible medical benefits incidental to a student's participation in athletics that may be financed by an institution.

The cabinet supported a modified version of the proposal that would list creatine as one of the specific supplements prohibited and asked the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport to provide additional examples of specific dietary supplements to include.

The cabinet noted that while creatine is not a banned drug, not enough information exists concerning its long-term effects on the health and safety of student-athletes, and that institutions providing creatine as a permissible expense would be subject to legal liability ramifications.

Other Highlights

Championships/Competition CabinetSeptember 16-17/Kansas City, Missouri