Changes to Division III financial aid legislation and ensuring institutional compliance with financial aid legislation were topics of discussion at the Division III Management Council meeting October 25-26 in Indianapolis.

The division had planned to vote on legislation to deregulate and simplify Bylaw 15 at the 2001 NCAA Convention. This legislation would eliminate the current process of submitting awards of circumstance and nonathletics achievement awards to the NCAA for approval. The Management Council had directed the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee to come back to the Council with a process for compliance in light of the new legislation.

The Council reviewed a proposal from the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee to include an Institutional Financial Aid Compliance checklist with the annual mailing of NCAA compliance forms. The Council reviewed the checklist and expressed several concerns, ultimately deciding on the following recommendations to the Division III Presidents Council:

Sponsor an amendment-to-amendment (2-49-1) to delay the effective date of legislation to August 1, 2002, to provide time to develop a comprehensive compliance and enforcement process and communicate those details to the membership.

Endorse in principle: a process for institutional compliance; procedures for reporting audit results to the NCAA; and policy and procedures for enforcement.

Request that the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee separate the compliance process from methodology for collecting data and establish methodology for the collection of data, including the clear articulation that data collection and analysis must be completed by financial aid officers and institutional research staff, not by athletics department personnel.

Consider whether the methodology for data comparison should be between student-athletes and non-student-athletes as opposed to between student-athletes and the student body (since student-athletes would be included in that figure).

Establish a minimum number of award packages that will be reviewed.

Consider a team-by-team analysis of data.

Establish a more comprehensive enforcement process that would include: requiring an institutional annual external audit and the submission of a letter from an external auditor to the NCAA every third year, verifying the methodology used in the review process and the results of the review; and articulating the process and developing guidelines for follow-up on any reports of noncompliance.

Seek input from financial aid officers and institutional researchers regarding the development of methodology for collection of data.

Develop principles for equitable and ethical financial aid programs in Division III for inclusion in the compliance materials. (For example, athletes and nonathletes are considered in the same manner for financial aid awards; athletes should not be identified to the financial aid office prior to development of the award package; and institutional administrators have the responsibility for documenting compliance with the Division III philosophy of "no athletically related financial aid.")

Prepare the 2001 NCAA Convention session to comply with the above guidelines.

Division III Initiatives Task Force

In other action, the Management Council noted that it had received membership feedback regarding the three-year plan of the Division III Initiatives Task Force to allocate Division III resources to three priority areas: student-athlete welfare, membership education and diversity.

The plan, which includes a three-year budget allocation exceeding $8.6 million, now will be forwarded to the Presidents Council for its final approval.

Designed to make the most of new funds made available to the division through the new contract with CBS, the proposed initiatives include an expanded Division III Web site, educational opportunities and grant programs, and an emphasis on increasing administrative opportunities for women and ethnic minorities.

The task force designed the initiatives to:

Reflect the Division III strategic plan.

Impact Division III student-athletes, coaches, administrators and campus leadership directly.

Be quantifiable and measurable.

Be sustainable over time.

Be relatively easy to administer.

The Management Council noted that, especially since many of the initiatives consist of a series of grants that will bring funds directly to Division III campuses, regular communication with the membership is essential. The Management Council recommended to staff that this communication take place through the Division III Newsletter as well as the enhanced Division III Web site.

Because many of the programs the first year are expansions of existing programs administered by other groups (such as NACDA and NACWAA), members of the Council stressed the importance of developing criteria and an articulated basis for selecting recipients.

Amateurism

The Council heard a presentation of the Division III Amateurism Task Force, which included the opportunity to ask questions of Leslie J. Poolman, director of athletics at Dickinson College and the Management Council representative to the task force, and Jennifer Strawley and Julie Roe-Sumner, NCAA staff liaisons to the task force.

"The task force embraces the principles of amateurism," Poolman said. "But we also recognized that our current rules lack clarity, consistency and common sense, and it seems inappropriate to impose our rules on pre-enrolled student-athletes, many of whom are very young or from another country. Currently, the most severe sanctions are applied to student-athletes who 'intend' to professionalize, and it's very difficult to evaluate intent. Also, our current rules do not support the Division III philosophy regarding deregulation and student-athlete welfare."

Poolman also noted that the task force focused on pre-enrollment issues, not postenrollment issues.

"If you're a fan of fairness, deregulation and student-athlete welfare, you're really a fan of amateurism deregulation," he said.

The task force forwarded several recommendations to the Council, all of which the Council supported in principle and forwarded on to the Division III Presidents Council. The recommendations were to:

Allow prospective student-athletes (PSAs) to enter professional drafts without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility.

Allow PSAs to sign professional contracts without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility.

Allow PSAs to accept prize money for competition in events that are open to anyone without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility.

Allow PSAs to accept pay for play without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility.

Allow PSAs to compete with professionals without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility. On this item, the Council asked for further clarification regarding the full-time high-school student who engages in professional competition (and the impact that may have on competitive advantage). The Council also asked for clarification regarding the timing of the trigger point of the organized competition rule for a full-time high school student who engages in professional competition.

Adopt an organized competition rule that would charge a PSA with seasons of competition for every year he or she competed in organized athletics competition after high-school graduation but prior to full-time college enrollment.

Require individuals who compete after high-school graduation to complete an academic year in residence prior to being eligible for Division III competition.

There will be a membership discussion on amateurism at the 2001 NCAA Convention, with possible legislation proposed at the 2002 Convention.

NCAA Convention

The Council also reviewed a final draft of the 2001 NCAA Convention schedule, including a timeline for presentation materials. The Council noted that the Convention is an important Association-wide event, with the following observations:

The Honors Dinner remains a valuable event for the Association.

The inclusion of educational programming is valuable.

Intentional Association-wide inclusive programming should be pursued to enhance the communication among divisions. Simple proximity of meetings is not adequate.

The State of the Association address should include issues relevant to Division II and Division III.

Championships

The Council endorsed the Division III Championships Committee's recommendation to deny a recommendation from the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Committee that institutions be required to have a basketball shot clock and a red indicator light mounted on each basket and a game clock with tenths of a second by 2003-04. (This matter must be forwarded to the NCAA Executive Committee, since it is a playing rule.)

The Council also referred back to the Division III Championships Committee its recommendation to deny a requirement for a visible shot clock in men's lacrosse. The Council noted that a rule change was anticipated in the sport, and it supported the simultaneous addition of a shot clock with the rule change. The Council noted the committee's concerns regarding financial impact and recommended that the Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee consider delaying implementation of the rule until 2003.

The Council approved a recommendation from the Softball Rules Committee to adopt a bat standard of the Amateur Softball Association (ASA), effective January 1, 2001.

The Council also approved a recommendation from the Baseball Rules Committee establishing a moment-of-inertia (MOI) standard for each bat length and weight based on bats previously certified by the NCAA Bat Certification Program. The Council also approved a recommendation that a sliding scale for swing speed, based on bat length, be incorporated into the certification program as of January 1, 2003.

The Council approved another recommendation from the committee for the NCAA to conduct random testing of baseballs for coefficient-of-restitution (COR) compliance. All balls used for regular and postseason play must have a COR value of between .525 and .555 to be eligible for play in the 2002 season.

Other highlights

Division III Management Council
October 25-26/Indianapolis

Supported a recommendation by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics to identify an individual to serve as the NCAA senior woman administrator. The Council also endorsed a NACWAA resolution to that effect. The Council further recommended to the Division III Presidents Council that the NCAA's senior woman administrator should have a background in intercollegiate athletics and NCAA governance, and that the individual should be added to the newly reorganized NCAA Presidents Cabinet, a new advisory group for the NCAA president.

Reviewed and approved the updated Division III strategic-planning scorecards.

Reviewed and approved the Division III proposed budget and reserve as well as a document regarding future Association-wide revenue distribution.

Reviewed legislative proposals submitted by the membership for the 2001 NCAA Convention.

Reviewed and approved noncontroversial legislative proposals.

Reviewed and approved modification of wording and editorial revision legislative proposals.

Reviewed and approved the Presidents grouping of legislative proposals for roll call votes at the 2001 NCAA Convention.

Reviewed and approved the general grouping of legislative proposals for paddle votes at the 2001 NCAA Convention.

Reviewed legislative proposals for the 2001 NCAA Convention that were submitted by the membership.

Identified speakers for those proposals coming from the Division III governance structure and those membership-submitted proposals on which the Management Council has taken a position.