The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- May 10, 1999

Divisions II, III CEOs seek to expand opportunities

II presidents authorize pilot program to enhance administrative diversity

BY DAVID PICKLE
STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Division II Presidents Council has voted to assure ongoing funding for an aggressive initiative designed to expand the involvement of minority administrators in Division II athletics pro-
grams.

During their April 20 meeting, the presidents agreed to provide funding of $250,000 in 1999-00 for a three-year pilot program of the NCAA Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Enhancement.

Division II governance groups have not yet determined whether to implement the program for the 1999-00 academic year or to wait until 2000-01. Although both the Division II Management Council and Presidents Councilhave identified the lack of diversity in Division II athletics administration as an acute problem, there is concern that rushing the program into existence could compromise its effectiveness.

The program is designed primarily to help Division II athletics programs achieve diversity in employment through matching funds provided by the NCAA. The program also would allow for other initiatives, such as seminars, but the principal purpose is to increase the number of employment opportunities for minority administrators within the division.

Institutions interested in participating in the program would submit a proposal to the Association, which would award the funds based on the merits of the proposals.

The NCAA money, which would come from Division II unallocated funds, would provide 75 percent of the funding in the first year, 50 percent in the second and 25 percent in the third.

Funding of the pilot in 1999-00 could enable Division II institutions to hire 13 minority administrators at approximately $25,000 a year.

The Division II Presidents Council spent most of its time on the matter at its April meeting clarifying the division's funding commitments.

One week earlier, the Management Council had noted that while the Division II Budget and Finance Committee had set aside $250,000 in funding for the project for the 1999-00 fiscal year, no commitments were made for subsequent years.

Besides the timing issue, other details still need to be addressed. One of those has to do with how grant recipients can be retained at Division II institutions. Another has to do with how the program will be evaluated.

Nevertheless, the division's leadership structure has taken a meaningful step toward addressing the division's administrative diversity question.

"This is a good demonstration of Division II's commitment to do something about these issues," said Presidents Council Vice-Chair Gladys Stiles Johnston, chancellor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Presidents Council member Charles D. Dunn, president of Henderson State University, took the commitment a step further, saying that "this should be an Association-wide program."

Initial eligibility

The Presidents Council also focused on Division II initial-eligibility standards in the wake of a federal ruling that declared Division I's Proposition 16 illegal.

The presidents endorsed a Management Council plan that was developed at that group's April 12-13 meeting.

They specifically requested that the NCAA research staff analyze Division II data from the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. They also appointed Presidents Council members Jessica S. Kozloff (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania) and Bernard W. Franklin (St. Augustine's College) to attend the June 17-18 meeting of the Division II Academic Requirements Committee as it discusses initial-eligibility standards. (In a related matter, the presidents also requested that the research staff analyze academic questions relating to two-year college transfers in Division II.)

Other business

The Presidents Council also received a report from Allen Lee Sessoms, president of Queen's College (New York), on the progress of the Division II Amateurism Project Team. Sessoms said that the group has come to understand that the amateurism problem has much more to do with competitive advantage than it does with age or international student-athletes.

The project team is accumulating more data on the topic. It hopes to conduct a discussion of the issue as part of the 2000 Convention and conference meetings over the next year, before recommending action for the 2001 Convention.

With regard to the Convention, the Presidents Council reviewed a membership survey that gauged reaction to the 1999 Convention in San Antonio.

The presidents thought the response was generally favorable and that it contained a number of useful observations.

They did note that the 2000 Convention likely will not include as much discretionary time since it will feature a much larger legislative agenda resulting from a package designed to deregulate NCAA Bylaws 11 and 13. Division II considered 24 proposals at the 1999 Convention; that number could triple for the 2000 event.

The meeting was the final one for Presidents Robert A. Burnett of Armstrong Atlantic State University and Joan K. Wadlow of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Both will be retiring at the conclusion of the academic year.

In addition, it was the final governance meeting for Division II Chief of Staff Nancy L. Mitchell, who announced earlier this year that she will not be relocating to Indianapolis with the national office staff. The Presidents Council honored Mitchell with a ceremony at the conclusion of its meeting.

Mike L. Racy will replace Mitchell as Division II chief of staff.

Other highlights

Division II Presidents Council
April 20/Washington, D.C.