As the president of an NCAA Division II university for 24 years, I have observed numerous positive changes in our Association, most of which took place through legislation at the annual Convention.

In January, at the 2001 Convention, Division II will have the opportunity to vote for significant changes recommended by the Division II Amateurism Project Team. The project team undertook a grass-roots effort to include the membership's concerns and ideas in its work. In order to ensure that it was responsive to all concerned, the project team spent more than a year and a half conducting an exhaustive evaluation of the state of amateurism in Division II.

I was one of those who argued that amateurism rules should not be changed because we have historically abided by them and philosophically, the concept of amateurism has been a cornerstone of the NCAA. However, after hearing all the concerns, inconsistencies and alternatives, I have determined that we have an opportunity to clarify and make constructive changes in an essential aspect of our work.

The proposal being presented by the Division II project team contains two components. The first is the deregulation of certain activities. The project team supports deregulating rules to provide increased opportunities to athletes such as their ability to: (1) accept prize money based on place finish; (2) enter the draft and/or be drafted; (3) sign a contract for athletics participation; (4) accept pay for athletics participation; and (5) compete with professionals.

The project team recognizes that participation in some of these activities could lead to a competitive advantage, which is why the project team supports the adoption of a seasons-of-competition rule, the second component of the proposals. Under this proposal, for every year that an athlete participates in organized competition after the next opportunity to enroll in college after high-school graduation, excluding summer school, the athlete is charged with the loss of a season of competition upon initial full-time collegiate enrollment and must fulfill an academic year in

residence upon enrollment. My opinion is that the two components are interdependent in our efforts to bring about reasonable treatment for prospective student-athletes and to establish a clearly defined, practical approach to competitive-equity concerns.

The project team will be presenting the proposals as one package at the Convention because it strongly believes the core values used in creating the proposal (best interests of the prospective student-athlete and competitive equity) would be compromised if only parts of the package were adopted.

The project team believes that deregulation represents a commitment to education in that a greater number of appropriate athletes will have the opportunity to pursue a college education and participate in intercollegiate athletics; conversely, those athletes who are not appropriate for intercollegiate competition no longer will be able to take advantage of inherent weaknesses within the current amateurism rules.

There are several advantages to deregulation.

We no longer are confined to having to determine whether competition is labeled amateur or professional. We now can look at the nature of the competition and when it occurred to determine whether the competitive experience affects the athlete's seasons of competition.

We will treat domestic and international athletes consistently.

Athletes and their families will know the consequences for certain decisions (often made at a young age) and can therefore make more informed choices.

Deregulation brings fairness and accountability to amateurism. The proposals treat all athletes fairly while holding them accountable for their decisions in a responsible rather than in a punitive manner.

The Division II Management Council and Presidents Council have unanimously supported these proposals. Between now and January there will be several opportunities for the Division II membership to learn more about the legislation being submitted. Project team members will be making presentations to conferences that make the request. Additionally, in October, the project team will be sending a video to every Division II campus with a detailed explanation of the philosophy behind the proposals. I hope that each Division II member will take advantage of these opportunities and fully support the package when it is submitted in January.

Kent Wyatt is the former president at Delta State University.