The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- January 18, 1999

Division III adopts new selection principles after thorough debate

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

SAN ANTONIO -- While Division III delegates considered 24 legislative proposals during the Division III business session January 11, the debate provoked by the long-awaited championships selection principles took center stage.

After a lengthy discussion in which several delegates admitted to changing their minds multiple times, the championships selection principles passed as amended.

Several speakers took to the microphone on both sides of the issue, many expressing support for the principles based on the concepts of access, broad participation, and conference and regional play, which are values found in the Division III philosophy.

A member of the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee spoke in favor of the legislation as well, stating that the committee believed the principles encouraged athletics participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities for students.

Other speakers expressed concern that tples needed further refinement, and still others stated that the principles necessitated bracket expansion to ensure an equitable championships system that encompassed both the goals of access and excellence.

Other legislation that generated significant discussion was the issue of the "4-2-4" transfer, which was dealt with in Proposals 27 and 27-1. The amended legislation, which was somewhat of a compromise between the existing legislation and a proposal put forth by the membership, was adopted.

In an additional action, Division III delegates also voted to prohibit providing dietary supplements (for example, weight-gain muscle/strength building supplements) to student-athletes as a permissible institutional expense.

Division III legislative actions

No. 25: Senior Woman Administrator. Intent: To require Division III institutions to designate a Senior Woman Administrator, as well as to clarify the status and role of that position. Action: This proposal was withdrawn and referred to the Committee on Women's Athletics for review and a response back to the Management Council and Presidents Council no later than July 1, 1999.

No. 26: Division III Governance Structure -- Division III Presidents Council. Intent: To increase the size of the Council from 11 to 15 members. Action: Adopted, 296-3 (1 abstention).

No. 27: Eligibility -- Division III -- "4-2-4" Transfers. Intent: To eliminate the requirement that a "4-2-4" transfer student complete the two-year college degree program in order to be immediately eligible at a Division III institution if he or she participated at the first four-year institution and was not athletically and financially eligible at that institution. It would have also required such a student-athlete to have successfully completed 12 hours of transferable degree credit for each full-time term of attendance at the two-year institution. Action: Adopted as amended, 289-23 (1 abstention).

No. 27-1: Division III "4-2-4" Transfer -- Transferable Credit Hours and Terms of Attendance. Intent: An amendment-to-amendment to require a student-athlete to complete 24 semester-hours or 36 quarter-hours of transferable degree credit and at least two semesters or three quarters of attendance at the two-year institution. Action: Adopted, 239-67 (2 abstentions).

No. 28: Division III Financial Aid -- Athletically Related Financial Aid. Intent: To preclude a provisional member from awarding new athletically related financial aid during the second year of provisional membership. Action: Adopted, 309-1 (1 abstention).

No. 29: Division III Financial Aid -- Eligibility for Institutional Aid. Intent: To permit Division III institutions to award institutional financial aid (including summer aid) to any student-athlete who satisfies institutional regulations applicable to all students for the receipt of such aid. Action: Adopted, 310-3 (2 abstentions).

No. 30: Division III Financial Aid -- Employment Earnings. Intent: To specify that institutions shall not count employment earnings (other than earnings from federal and state work-study program assistance) as institutional aid and to specify that employment earnings (other than earnings from federal and state work-study program assistance) shall not be included in a student-athlete's full grant-in-aid limit. Action: Adopted, 299-6 (1 abstention).

No. 31: Division III Financial Aid -- Period of Award. Intent: To specify that increases in financial aid to student-athletes should conform to the policies applicable to the general student body. Action: Adopted, 312-2 (2 abstentions).

No. 32: Division III Financial Aid -- Nonathletics Achievement Awards. Intent: To permit any institutional representatives (other than athletics department staff members) to be involved in the selection process for recipients of nonathletics achievement awards. Action: Adopted, 301-8 (2 abstentions).

No. 33: Division III Financial Aid -- Leadership and Merit Awards. Intent: To permit Division III student-athletes to receive leadership and merit awards without consideration of the recipient's financial need if approved by the Management Council as an award of circumstance (Bylaw 15.4.6.3) or nonathletics achievement award (Bylaw 15.4.6.4). Action: Adopted, with an immediate effective date, 242-56 (6 abstentions).

No. 34: Membership Requirements -- Division III Philosophy Statement. Intent: To revise the Division III philosophy statement to include a statement supporting ethnic and gender diversity for all constituents. Action: Adopted, with an immediate effective date, 309-0 (2 abstentions).

No. 35: Division III Membership -- Football and Men's Basketball Scheduling. Intent: In the sports of football and men's basketball, to eliminate the requirement that a Division III institution shall schedule and play more than 50 percent of its contests in an academic year against institutions classified in Division III. Action: Adopted, 280-18 (13 abstentions ).

No. 36: Change of Division Membership -- Notification and Championships Eligibility. Intent: To establish a two-year notification period for institutions that intend to reclassify from Division III to Division II and to exclude those institutions that have forwarded such notice to the national office from eligibility for any Division III championship and from service on Division III committees. (This would not affect institutions first submitting official notice of reclassification prior to 6/1/98.) Action: Adopted, 260-41 (6 abstentions).

No. 37: Current Championships -- Division III -- Women's Golf. Intent: To establish a Division III Women's Golf Championship. Action: Adopted, 298-0 (3 abstentions).

No. 38: Division III Championships -- Selection Principles and Automatic Qualification Requirements. Intent: Part A: To establish automatic-championships qualification for conferences that meet specified legislative requirements; to specify that at least seven conference members shall sponsor a sport for the conference to be eligible to receive an automatic bid; to require sports committees to give priority to regional competition in the selection of at-large championships participants; to specify that conferences that do not meet automatic-qualification requirements as of February 1, 2000, shall fulfill all requirements for one year prior to receiving automatic qualification. Intent: Part B: To specify that all members of a conference must play a minimum percentage of their published schedules against conference competition for the conference to receive an automatic championships bid. (Part A would have been effective August 1, 1999 for championship selection during the 1999-2000 academic year and thereafter. Part B would have been effective August 1, 2001 for championship selection during the 2001-2002 academic year and thereafter.) Action: Adopted as amended, 232-82 (3 abstentions).

No. 38-1: Selection Principles and Automatic-Qualification Requirements -- Conference Competitive Requirements. Intent: Amendment-to-amendment to eliminate proposed conference competitive requirements as outlined in Part B of proposal No. 38. Action: Adopted, 273-32 (3 abstentions).

No. 38-2: Division III Championships -- Selection Principles and Automatic-qualification Requirements -- Resolution -- At-Large Berths. Intent: Amendment-to-amendment detailing process to resolve details regarding selection of at-large berths by June 15, 1999. Action: Adopted, 287-20 (6 abstentions).

No. 39: Change of Division Membership -- Reclassification Period. Intent: To establish a four-year reclassification period for Division I institutions that wish to reclassify to Division III. Action: Adopted.

No. 40: Division III Membership -- Reclassification of Provisional Members. Intent: To permit the Division III Membership Committee to waive one year of the four-year provisional membership period if an institution reclassifies its professional membership from Division II to Division III. Action: Adopted.

No. 41: Division III Membership -- Minimum -- Contest Requirements. Intent: To specify that Division III institutions may include only contests against the varsity programs of four-year, degree-granting institutions in meeting the minimum-contest sport sponsorship requirements. Action: Adopted.

No. 42: Eligibility -- Hardship Waiver -- Division III. Intent: To require that contemporaneous medical documentation be submitted with any hardship-waiver request. Action: Adopted, with an immediate effective date.

No. 43: Eligibility -- Seasons of Competition -- Division III. Intent: To permit the NCAA Division III Subcommittee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement to grant a student-athlete an additional season of competition when a coaching staff member erroneously directs a student-athlete to participate in competition prior to receipt of a formal declaration of his or her eligibility status, and the student-athlete is subsequently determined to be ineligible for the competition. Action: Adopted, with an immediate effective date.

No. 44: De Minimis Violations -- Enrolled Student-Athletes -- Division III. Intent: To specify instances in which a de minimis violation will not render an enrolled student-athlete ineligible while retaining the fact that such a violation shall be considered an institutional violation. Action: Adopted.

No. 45: Restitution for Receipt of Improper Benefits -- Division III. Intent: To specify circumstances in which an institution does not have to declare a student-athlete ineligible and seek reinstatement on behalf of student-athlete who received an improper benefit, provided the student-athlete repays the value of the improper benefit. Action: Adopted.

No. 46: Playing and Practice Seasons -- National Christian Collegiate Athletics Association (NCCAA). Intent: To exempt competition in the NCCAA championships from the maximum number of countable contests/dates of competition in the applicable sports and to establish a joint-declaration program in those men's and women's sports in which there is a date conflict between the national championship of the NCAA and NCCAA. Action: Adopted.

No. 47: Division III Committees. Intent: To specify that a Division III committee member who has two consecutive unexcused absences may be removed from the committee. Action: Adopted.

No. 48: Medical Expenses -- Dietary Supplements. Intent: To prohibit dietary supplements as permissible medical benefits incidental to a student-athlete's participation in intercollegiate athletics that may be financed by an institution. Action: Adopted, with an immediate effective date.