LITIGATION

Federal appeals court overturns Cureton ruling

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit on December 22 reversed the decision of a federal district court in the case of Cureton v. NCAA.

The ruling overturned a March 8 ruling that set aside Division I initial-eligibility standards commonly known as Proposition 16.

In its 2-1 decision, the court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments that receipt of federal funds by the National Youth Sports Program subjects all of the NCAA's programs to Title VI scrutiny and that member schools, which are recipients of federal funds, ceded control of their athletics programs to the Association.

Staff contact: Elsa Kircher Cole

BOOSTERS

Infractions panels create new policy on booster disassociation

The Divisions I, II and III Committees on Infractions have established a new policy that may impact representatives of athletics interests who were disassociated from member institutions' athletics programs as a result of involvement in NCAA infractions cases.

The new policy, which was approved by the committees this fall, specifies a period of 10 years for disassociations with athletics representatives to be vacated.

Specifically, the policy states:

"Any disassociations of athletics representatives that have been in effect for a period of 10 years or more may be vacated by affected institutions. Member institutions have the discretion, however, to keep disassociations in effect indefinitely. Institutions having athletics representatives who have been disassociated for fewer than 10 years but whose conditions of disassociation did not specify a length of time, or who were 'permanently' disassociated, may request the reinstatement of such individuals by contacting the director for the infractions committees."

Staff contact: Shepard C. Cooper

INTERNS

Deadline approaches for NCAA Conference Intern Seminar

The deadline to complete and return the registration form for the 2000 NCAA Conference Intern Seminar has been extended to January 7, 2000.

The NCAA will conduct a two-day seminar for conference interns Friday, January 21, through Sunday, January 23, at the NCAA national office.

The seminar will include skill-enhancement workshops (networking and interviewing), as well as presentations pertaining to intercollegiate, amateur and professional athletics.

The cost of the seminar is $400 per participant for single occupancy or $300 per participant for double occupancy.

This registration fee will cover the cost of the participant's room for Friday and Saturday nights and dinner Friday evening, as well as lunches and all materials for the skills-enhancement workshops.

Staff contact: Sheryl L. George

EADA

Government to require electronic submission of forms

The NCAA has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education that the 1999 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act forms that were required to be submitted to the department on October 30, 1999, will be due at the end of February 2000 through electronic submission only.

Education department officials have indicated they will likely enter into a partnership with the NCAA on the collection of the data to be supplied in February.

Although the NCAA collects the data in paper format, the NCAA enters the information into a computer data bank. The proposed partnership would allow the NCAA to supply the data on behalf of its membership.

Under the plan, the NCAA would extrapolate from each institution's 1999 Gender-Equity Survey that portion of the form pertaining to the federal EADA reporting and submit it to the department electronically.

Through this proposed partnership, NCAA member institutions would not be required to complete a second form, thus reducing the burden on the institution and preventing confusion from the reporting of two similar, but not identical, sets of data.

Staff contact: Doris Dixon