The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- October 11, 1999

Management, Presidents Councils to focus on legislation

The 2000 NCAA Convention is expected to be a focus during the upcoming meetings of the Division III Management and Presidents Councils.

The Councils will review proposed legislation, including proposals offered by the membership, and finalize the Convention schedule for the division.

The Management Council will meet October 18-19 in Atlanta, and the Presidents Council will meet October 28 in Chicago.

The 2000 Convention will feature a discussion and votes on several issues that have been reviewed and debated by the Division III membership this year.

The Councils will review proposed legislation sponsored by the Presidents Council prohibiting institutions from outside competition during the nontraditional segment. This legislation, which is expected to create extensive discussion among the Division III membership at the 2000 Convention, would eliminate the nontraditional season (except in golf and tennis, per Bylaw 17.1.11.4).

The Councils also will review Proposal No. 2-40 regarding all-star contests in Division III. The legislation is divided into three parts: Part A of the proposal permits institutional staff members to be involved in the conduct and operation of all-star contests; Part B extends the current legislation by prohibiting all student-athletes with remaining eligibility, not just those in basketball and football, from participating in all-star contests; and Part C permits institutional facilities and institutional personnel to be used for all-star contests, with the understanding that the institution assumes all risks involved with the all-star contest.

Current legislation precludes the use of institutional facilities unless the all-star contest is certified, a procedure that, with governance restructuring, is no longer carried out in Division III.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by the Presidents Council, eliminates the initial problem identified in the discussion of all-star contests in Division III, that of legislation requiring contests to be certified but providing for no such certification process. It also treats all sports the same, requiring that student-athletes in all sports complete their eligibility prior to participation.

The proposal also permits Division III institutions -- after considering the legal liabilities involved -- to decide for themselves whether to permit the use of their own facilities and equipment and the participation of their personnel.

The Councils also will review numerous other proposals, including Proposal No. 2-39, sponsored by the Division III Membership Committee, to require institutional chief executive officers to have ultimate responsibility and final authority for the operation of member conferences.

Another significant proposal (No. 2-39) is one that would require each Division III multisport conference to establish a conference student-athlete advisory committee. This proposal is sponsored by the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Interpretations and Legislation Committee.

Membership-sponsored proposals

The Councils also will review four proposals offered by the Division III membership.

Proposal No. 2-43, sponsored by the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), aims to eliminate scrimmages with outside competition from counting as a season of competition for student-athletes.

Another SUNYAC proposal (No. 2-44) seeks to permit the Management Council or an institution to certify international competition held during summer vacation, allowing a student-athlete who competed in the institution's international competition to retain his or her eligibility if he or she has not participated during the regular season or the nontraditional season.

The Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference has proposed legislation (No. 2-46) that would allow student-athletes who attend a two-year college the same two-year nonparticipation transfer exception currently available to four-year college transfers.

The Centennial Conference has put forth Proposal No. 2-54 to permit student-athletes in the sports of basketball, field hockey and soccer to participate in both a junior varsity contest and a varsity contest on the same day and at the same site, while having such participation count as only one contest.

Membership issues

The Councils will review a number of issues forwarded to them by the Division III Membership Committee, including a recommendation that Constitution 3.6 be amended to specify that the final two years of provisional membership must be completed consecutively.

The Councils also will review recommendations from the committee regarding the membership status of a Division III conference and an athletics consortium, and the Management Council will hear two institutional appeals of membership status. The Membership Committee has ruled that both institutions must repeat their first year of provisional membership, a decision that the institutions have appealed to the Management Council.

The Councils also are expected to:

* Finalize an NCAA 2000 Convention schedule that includes a Division III forum on student-athlete behavior, as well as six different discussion sessions: (1) An Institutional Self-Study Guide (ISSG) update and financial aid update; (2) Athletics performance enhancement (use of supplements); (3) Deregulation; (4) Report of the Amateurism Task Force; (5) Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Division III; and (6) The NCAA public relations study and plan.

* Review a revised list of strategic planning priorities for 1999-00, including the year's three primary goals: educational initiatives, deregulation and evaluation of the Division III experience.

* Review the deregulation of Bylaw 31 as recommended by the Division III Interpretations and Legislation Committee. The Councils also will review a deregulation package containing 27 proposals from Bylaws 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17.

* Review a recommendation from the Division III Financial Aid Committee for a membership survey regarding financial aid practices and policies on Division III campuses.

* Review recommendations from the Division III Nominating Committee to fill the January 2000 vacancies on the Division III Management Council and Division III committees.