The Division III Management Council took steps to address both issues at its July 23-24 meeting. The Council also reviewed legislation that the membership will vote on at the 2002 NCAA Convention, selected a chair and vice-chair for next year and approved the selection of 20 institutions to participate this fall in the Division III Financial Aid Audit Pilot Program.

The Presidents Council, which will meet August 9 in Indianapolis, will review many of the recommendations, and it also is expected to review legislation for the Convention.

If the Presidents Council agreeswith the tack taken by the Management Council, the Division III membership will see a package of legislation at the 2002 Convention aimed at changing amateurism rules in Division III. The one element that makes this package unique to Division III is the removal of the "pay for play" element. If the legislation were to pass as the Division III Amateurism Task Force proposed and the Management Council endorsed, prospective student-athletes could play for a professional team, but they could not accept a salary and then be eligible to compete in Division III.

The Management Council formally reviewed an entire package of recommendations from the Division III Amateurism Task Force that the Council had discussed previously. The Council noted that the task force had, based on discussions with the Division III membership and concerns raised by the Management and Presidents Councils, declined to propose legislation that would enable a Division III prospective student-athlete to accept pay for play, thus eliminating that element from the package.

The Council also discussed a revised "organized-competition rule" imbedded in the package, noting that it believed the completion of the academic year in residence was necessary to show the student-athlete was indeed committed to academic success.

The Council thus agreed to recommend that the Presidents Council sponsor a package of legislation for the Convention that would, if passed by the membership:

Permit prospective and enrolled student-athletes to accept funds that are administered by the U.S. Olympic Committee as part of its Operation Gold program.

Permit prospective student-athletes to accept prize money or other forms of compensation based on place finish from the sponsor of an open athletics event, the U.S. Olympic Committee or the appropriate national governing body in the sport, without losing eligibility in the sport.

Charge a prospective student-athlete with the loss of a season of competition for every year of participation in organized competition from the date of the prospective student-athlete's next opportunity for collegiate enrollment after high-school graduation. The legislation also would specify that a prospective student-athlete would be required to fulfill an academic year in residence upon initial, full-time collegiate enrollment if the student-athlete engaged in such athletics participation after high-school graduation. The legislation would be triggered by the high-school graduation of the prospective student-athlete's expected class, and the legislation also would be triggered if a student-athlete discontinued full-time high-school enrollment at any time and engaged in organized competition.

Permit exceptions to the application of the seasons-of-competition rule for preparatory school and also a maximum one-time, one-year exception for participation in official Pan American, World Championships, World Cup, World University and Olympic training, tryouts and competition.

Redefine organized competition for the application of the seasons-of-competition rule. Under this definition, a prospect would trigger the rule if he or she participated in any team competition or training in which pay in any form was provided to the participant above actual and necessary expenses; in any competition or training in which the individual accepted pay in any form based on his or her place finish; in any competition pursuant to the signing of a contract or entering the draft; or any competition that was funded by a representative of an institution's athletics interests that is not open to all participants.

Permit prospective student-athletes to sign a contract or commitment of any kind to play professional athletics.

Permit a prospective student-athlete to enter a professional league's draft and be drafted without compromising the prospective student-athlete's NCAA eligibility.

Permit prospective student-athletes to participate on a professional team. (The Council noted that since a prospective student-athlete may not accept a salary, the likelihood of a prospective student-athlete engaging in a high level of professional competition where a significant competitive advantage is gained would be minimal.)

Agreed that, if passed by the membership, the amateurism legislation would be effective August 1, 2002, for those prospective student-athletes first entering a collegiate institution full time on or after August 1, 2002.

The Management Council reviewed a number of recommendations from the Division III Championships Committee regarding automatic qualification, and the Council agreed to endorse the following concepts:

Expanding team-sport brackets, with an ultimate access-ratio goal of 1:7 (up from the current 1:7.5).

Placing special emphasis on more access for at-large (Pool C) participants during future bracket expansion. The Council noted that increased access for Pool C participants was a consistent theme in membership feedback and that lack of Pool C berths threatens to undermine the long-term support and effectiveness of AQ.

Requesting that sports committees examine the definition of a region to provide greater flexibility to institutions in determining in-region schedules.

Applying the automatic-qualification principles to the selection of teams for all individual-team sports (cross country, golf and tennis).

Studying all individual team-sports to determine the appropriateness of applying the automatic-qualification principles to the selection of individual participants.

The Council also agreed to:

Clarify the selection criteria to reflect that the language stating "in priority order" does not mean that after reviewing the first criteria that the remaining criteria are not reviewed.

Clarify Bylaw 31.3.6 to reflect that institutions participating in conferences that meet the automatic-qualification requirements and are eligible to be selected to a championship via Pool A and/or Pool C, may not elect instead to be selected via Pool B as independent institutions.

Clarify Bylaw 31.3.6 to emphasize that the method by which the Pool A conference representative is determined must be done at the time of the automatic-qualification declaration and that it must be objectively outlined.

Endorse the guaranteed allocation of only one berth in Pool A for conferences that meet the eligibility requirements, regardless of the size of the conference beyond the minimum requirement of seven eligible members.

In a related action, the Council agreed to delay until further notice the recommended per diem increase from $60 to $65, originally scheduled to be effective with the 2002-03 championships, in order to provide funding for initiatives to further enhance the automatic-qualification principles. The Council noted that the Division III membership had expressed more concern relative to championships access than per diem increase, and delaying the per diem increase would free up $300,000 to pursue greater access.

Other championships issues

In other action, the Council agreed to request that all sports committees provide input regarding the idea of conducing sports festivals, and it also agreed to develop a championships manual that outlines the championships bidding process and hosting requirements.

The Council also agreed to direct its Playing and Practice Seasons Subcommittee to review the length of playing and practice seasons of all Division III sports to ensure that policies relative to length of seasons are consistent with the Division III philosophy and in the best interest of participating student-athletes.

In another action, the Council agreed to create a consistent formula for the men's and women's soccer championships, effective in 2002, so that the semifinals and finals of the championships would be conducted each year during the Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. The Council also agreed to direct the soccer committees to study the desirability of conducting the championships at predetermined sites.

Other highlights

Division III Management Council
July 23-24/Monterey, California

The Council elected Christopher Walker, faculty athletics representative and professor of communicative disorders at the University of Redlands, as chair. The Council elected Susan Bassett, director of athletics at William Smith College, as vice-chair. Both will begin their terms at the conclusion of the 2002 NCAA Convention in January.

Reviewed the Division III strategic-planning priorities for 2001-03, as well as the Division III strategic-planning score cards. Reviewed a report of the Division III initiatives grant applications up to this point, noting that the division had received 58 grant applications for programs dealing with student-athlete welfare, 34 applications for programs dealing with membership education and communication, and 11 applications for programs dealing with diversity, with a total value of $632,644. Nineteen applications also had been submitted for consideration as one of eight pilot institutions in the STARR program.

Reviewed a composite schedule of Division III activities during the 2002 NCAA Convention and endorsed the topics and Convention schedule as proposed by the Division III Convention Planning Subcommittee. The discussion topics proposed for the Division III business session are: financial aid, championships and amateurism. The topics proposed for the Division III forum include: a possible presentation by the authors of the book, "The Game of Life," William Bowen and James Shulman; the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program; and sportsmanship.

Endorsed a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics proposing a number of educational initiatives regarding the issue of homophobia in intercollegiate athletics. Referred a recommendation to incorporate homophobia issues into the Division III Institutional Self-Study Guide to the Division III Membership Committee.

Endorsed a recommendation from the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to give membership initiatives dealing with homophobia priority funding for the Division III initiative grants for 2002-03.

Endorsed a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics to develop ad hoc committees to develop rules for emerging sports, noting that these committees would likely eliminate confusion and streamline the entire process of the development of emerging sports.

Recommended that the NCAA Committee on Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports begin reviewing injury and safety information pertaining to the sport of women's rugby, which appears to be moving toward emerging sport status. Several committee members expressed concern that rugby had safety issues that need to be addressed prior to the NCAA governance structure formally considering legislation to make rugby an emerging sport.

Endorsed the participation of the following institutions in the previously approved financial aid audit pilot program: Adrian College; Arcadia University; Case Western Reserve University; Colby-Sawyer College; Defiance College; Drew University; Kean University; Macalester College; University of Maine-Farmington; Maryville University of Saint Louis; Middlebury College; Nebraska Wesleyan University; Ohio Wesleyan University; Rowan University; University of Scranton; Simpson College; State University of New York-Brockport; Vassar College; Washington University (Missouri); and Wilmington College. The audits will take place in September, and the Management Council will likely review the audit results at its October meeting. (Previous plans to conduct the audits during July or August were modified when Financial Aid Committee members discovered that June and September were more common time periods to conduct such audits.)

Granted active Division III membership to provisional members East Texas Baptist University and Lesley University, based on the recommendations of the Division III Membership Committee.

Recommended sponsorship of proposed legislation to establish a timeline and process that will affect new provisional members subsequent to the expiration of the current membership moratorium on August 1, 2002. The process would include a lottery, if necessary, to determine which six eligible institutions would be approved for provisional membership each year. Eligibility would be based on compliance with sports-sponsorship requirements, awarding no new athletically related aid and meeting other provisional membership requirements at the time of application.

Approved a new four-year provisional membership education program designed to create a more comprehensive education plan, and also approved a provisional membership education fee of $11,000 per institution to permit the level of service necessary to facilitate the four-year education program. The Council agreed with the committee's recommendation that provisional institutions pay the full cost of the education provided, noting that provisional members that must repeat a year must also pay the cost of the education provided in that year.

Reviewed legislative proposals sponsored by the membership for the 2002 NCAA Convention, referring all proposals to the appropriate Division III committees for review and taking positions of support or opposition on some, when appropriate.

Reviewed legislative proposals sponsored by the Division III Presidents Council for the 2002 NCAA Convention.

Reviewed noncontroversial legislative proposals and modifications based on intent for the 2002 NCAA Convention.