The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 8, 1999

Minority committee continues study of initial-eligibility models

The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee tackled several current issues facing the Association during its October 24-25 meeting in Indianapolis, including a review of updated research regarding initial-eligibility standards in Division I.

The committee also prepared a preliminary agenda for the upcoming NCAA Summit on Athletics Opportunities for Minority Women November 8-9 in Dallas, where leaders from several athletics organizations will convene to discuss strategies to enhance opportunities for minority women in intercollegiate athletics.

The summit is the product of a joint recommendation from the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the Committee on Women's Athletics and is intended to address not only the lack of access opportunities for minority women in intercollegiate athletics, but the apparent lack of advancement opportunities for minority women into leadership roles at the institution, conference or organization level.

Participants in the summit will include representatives from the Women's Sports Foundation, the Black Women in Sport Foundation, the Black Coaches Association, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, the National Federation of State High School Associations and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators, among others. The agenda will include organizational strategic plans to increase opportunities for minority women as student-athletes, coaches and administrators; overcoming barriers relating to opportunities in athletics administration; and forming partnerships to affect positive change.

"It will be important for each organization involved in the summit to take strategies back to their groups and develop implementation plans," said Charles Whitcomb, chair of the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and faculty athletics representative at San Jose State University. "We don't see the summit as an all-talk, no action event but as a way to elevate awareness and create practical growth opportunities for women of color. It's also not about organizations working alone to overcome these challenges. It's about us forming partnerships and working together to get things done."

Whitcomb said strategies emanating from the summit could be implemented as early as January 2000.

Initial eligibility

Regarding initial-eligibility standards, the committee heard a presentation from the NCAA research staff on the work of the Division I consultants studying initial-eligibility issues. The consultants were appointed by the Division I Board of Directors to assist the Board as it conducts an ongoing review of initial-eligibility standards.

Among research the committee reviewed was a comparison of alternative models predicting freshman-year success and graduation rates using high-school input variables (core-course grade-point average, number of core courses and test scores).

The data showed how utilizing the alternative methods might lead to efficiency in predicting eligibility. The consultants have shown an interest in the alternative models as they consider whether to recommend any changes to the current initial-eligibility standards.

The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee was interested in the data from the standpoint of investigating alternative models that might reduce the impact of the test score in determining initial eligibility. Though no proposals came from the review, the committee supported continued research in this area, particularly in using the alternative models to predict graduation rates.

"The question that still has to be asked is whether the NCAA wants to gear its initial-eligibility standards toward freshman-year success or an increase in graduation rates," Whitcomb said. "The data indicate that those pursuits are mutually exclusive.

"From the committee's point of view, we'd like a rule that maintains the current graduation rate but reduces the disparate impact on ethnic minorities and lower-income prospects.

The new research we're seeing is that perhaps we can certify prospects based on a combination of two of the three categories instead of all three. If nothing else, we'd certainly be interested in pursuing an alternative that reduces the impact of the test score, which we know has a disparate impact on our constituents."

The Division I Board of Directors is reviewing alternatives to the current standards, but the Board has indicated that it will not make any changes to the standards pending the outcome of current litigation claiming that Proposition 16 is illegal. A decision in that case is not expected until January or later.

Minority recruitment strategies

The committee also spent much of its meeting discussing hiring practices in intercollegiate sports, Association-wide staffing issues and the possibility of a minority database for job candidates in athletics.

Several staffing concerns came from the committee's review of an audit conducted by the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Issues Related to Gender and Ethnicity.

The audit was conducted in order to assess gender-equity and diversity efforts within the Association. The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the Committee on Women's Athletics were directed to oversee the audit and identify solutions and cost implications.

The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee approved the final report; however, it did raise concerns that though the division governance groups have met the minimums in diversity representation, it was important that those groups not become "comfortable" with the current numbers and that they continue to develop plans for increasing diversity even beyond the minimum requirements.

The committee also noted its concern with the lack of minority representation on various NCAA committees charged with academic issues, particularly the Initial-Eligibility Waivers Committee, and other committees where there is a large minority participation in the subject matter (for example, the Men's Basketball Rules Committee).

The committee emphasized that those particular groups, as well as all other committees, strongly consider diversity when filling vacancies.

The committee also discussed minority recruitment strategies beyond those within the governance structure. The committee reviewed recent hiring practices in collegiate athletics administration and the current demographics of NCAA institution and conference personnel.

The committee continues to be concerned regarding the percentage of ethnic minorities in leadership positions in athletics administration, and launched a review of ways to identify qualified minority candidates for meaningful positions in athletics.

The committee reviewed a presentation regarding a worldwide online search firm specializing in managing information on potential employees. One of the firm's goals is to identify core competencies for positions and to provide their needs with viable minority candidates.

The committee also heard from the developer of a Web site called "The Level Playing Field," which provides extensive online information and background material on candidates for coaching, athletics administration and other athletics personnel positions.

Though both sites offer access to information that could ultimately increase the percentage of minorities in the applicant pools for various positions in college athletics, the committee raised concerns regarding the confidentiality of the information, the financial commitment required and the level of control the NCAA would have over such a service.

Ultimately, the committee referred the issue to a newly established long-range planning/budget subcommittee for further review. The subcommittee will study alternative database issues, including the two proposals reviewed during this meeting, as well as the potential development of a candidate database that would be managed by the NCAA staff.

Subcommittee appointments

In addition to the long-range planning/budget subcommittee, the committee established three other subgroups to deal with ongoing committee matters.

They are the public relations subcommittee, which will be chaired by Lori Ebihara, director of compliance for the Big 12 Conference; the Minority Women Summit strategies subcommittee, chaired by Tanya Rush, assistant vice-president at Morgan State University; and the officials research subcommittee, chaired by Chris Monasch, commissioner of the America East Conference. Gene Marshall, director of athletics at Ramapo College, will chair the long-range planning/budget subcommittee.

The committee will conduct a telephone conference to determine the role of each group and potential agenda items for future review.

One agenda item already has been referred to the public relations subcommittee.

The committee referred to that group a review of two legislative packages that were distributed for comment in Division I.

The packages -- one regarding amateurism and another regarding basketball issues -- were either initially approved or tabled by the Division I Management Council in October for the purposes of obtaining membership comment. Both packages are expected to be voted on in April.

Other highlights

Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee
October 24-25/Indianapolis