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NCAA News Archive - 2001
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Division III delegates also will discuss several issues that might resurface next year as legislative proposals, including amateurism. Also on the agenda is a review of the work of the Division III Initiatives Task Force, which has established a number of new programs that are expected to benefit the Division III membership and the future of the Division III championships process.
For the first time this year, there also will be the opportunity for administrators to attend Association-wide discussion sessions at the Convention. These sessions, on topics ranging from coaches' contracts to student-athlete medical care, are offered in a menu format on Saturday, January 6.
Perhaps the most significant legislative proposal this year in Division III is Proposal No. 46, Financial Aid Regulations, which is intended to simplify financial aid legislation in Division III. If passed by the membership, it would eliminate the requirement that the Management Council approve awards of circumstance and nonathletics achievement awards.
The proposal also is intended to retain and enforce financial aid package requirements for student-athletes that are consistent with those for all students and to ensure that athletics department personnel are not involved with arranging or modifying a student-athlete's financial aid package, both of which are consistent with the principles espoused in the Division III philosophy statement.
The proposal has two amendment-to-amendments. Proposal No. 46-1 would delay the effective date of Proposal No. 46 until August 1, 2002, to provide time for the Financial Aid and Awards Committee to develop comprehensive compliance and enforcement processes and communicate those details to the membership. Proposal No. 46-2, which is a resolution sponsored by the Division III Presidents Council and the University Athletic Association, calls for specifics of the compliance and enforcement process related to Proposal No. 46 to be articulated to the membership in the form of legislation at the 2002 NCAA Convention.
The 2001 Convention delegates will probably hear, for the first time, how that compliance process might work. It's likely to focus on campus-based audits that would take place as part of the federal audit institutions already are required to complete.
Other key legislative proposals before the Division III membership include several pertaining to nontraditional seasons. Proposal Nos. 48, 49 and 50 all pertain to competition in the nontraditional segment, but none of the proposals would preclude such competition.
Proposal No. 48, Playing and Practice Seasons -- Practice and Competition in the Nontraditional Segment, would permit either coaches' practices or captains' practices on two days during a week and competition on a weekend day during a four-week nontraditional segment.
Proposal No. 49, Maximum Dates of Competition -- Baseball and Softball, would eliminate current legislation permitting baseball and softball tournaments to count as one contest and specify that the maximum number of contests in baseball and softball is 40 in the traditional season and five in the nontraditional season.
Proposal No. 50, Playing and Practice Seasons -- Nontraditional Segment -- Baseball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball and Women's Volleyball, would establish a five-week nontraditional segment and reduce the permissible number of contests during that segment in those sports.
Another proposal expected to generate a good deal of discussion is Proposal No. 47, Eligibility -- Minimum Amount of Participation, which would eliminate the practice of redshirting in Division III.
Other key legislative proposals include those to:
Establish a Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship and to establish a Division III Women's Rowing Championship.
Discussion sessions
Division III's schedule this year again will include discussion sessions on several topics of interest to administrators in the division.
An issues forum, "Building positive relationships between student-athletes, coaches, faculty and administration," on Sunday, January 7, will launch the discussions. James Appleton, president at the University of Redlands, will moderate the roundtable discussion, which will include a student-athlete perspective from Dewayne Barnes of Whittier College and Amy Huchthausen of the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
Other speakers will include Kathryn Springsteen, faculty athletics representative at Colby-Sawyer College; Christopher Walker, faculty athletics representative at Redlands; Susan Bassett, athletics director at William Smith College; Al Bean, athletics director at the University of Southern Maine; Christa Racine, soccer coach at Drew University; Sara Wakefield, volleyball coach at Bluffton College; Megan Stevens, a student-athlete at State University College at Cortland; and Carlyle Carter, commissioner of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Other discussion sessions will take place during the Division III business session Monday, January 8. John Biddiscombe, athletics director at Wesleyan University (Connecticut), will give an in-depth review of the work of the Division III Initiatives Task Force and explain to members how Division III institutions can apply to participate in many of the new programs.
Tom Weingartner, athletics director at the University of Chicago, will give an update on the work of the Division III Amateurism Task Force. This topic is expected to produce a lively and important discussion. The division likely will come out of the Convention with an understanding of where to go next with amateurism. Legislation is expected on this topic at the 2002 NCAA Convention.
A discussion on Division III financial aid will include an update on the current process by Georgette DeVeres, associate dean and director of financial aid at Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges and the chair of the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee. The session also will include a discussion of Proposal No. 46.
Other discussion sessions will include an update on the division's deregulation efforts, presented by Suzanne Coffey, athletics director at Bates College and chair of the Division III Interpretations and Legislation Committee, as well as a discussion on the championships hosting process and automatic qualification, facilitated by Joy L. Reighn, athletics director at Rowan University and chair of the Division III Championships Committee.
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