Discussions regarding provisional membership requirements were the focus of the Division III Membership Committee's January 25-26 meeting in Marco Island, Florida.

The committee has recommended that the Division III Management Council sponsor legislation for the 2002 NCAA Convention that would provide more specific requirements for Division III provisional members. Currently, NCAA legislation requires that Division III provisional members comply with Division III legislation "to the greatest extent possible during the first and second year of provisional membership." The committee is concerned that that requirement is too vague.

In addition to meeting the "greatest extent possible" requirement, the committee has recommended that provisional members also be required to:

Appoint a faculty athletics representative by the end of the school's first year of provisional membership;

Create and implement a student-athlete advisory committee on campus by the end of the school's first year of provisional membership;

Offer five sports for each gender that meet NCAA Division III minimum-contest and participation requirements by the end of the school's second year of provisional membership.

Complete whatever Division III financial aid audit the Division III membership must complete before the school's third year of provisional membership.

In a related action, the committee recommended that the Management Council sponsor legislation requiring all provisional members to administer the NCAA Division III Rules Test to all coaches and athletics administrators by the end of the school's second year of provisional membership.

The NCAA Division III Rules Test is a new document produced by NCAA staff. The Membership Committee asked staff to use the concept, created years ago by the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators, and update it to reflect current NCAA legislation. The document will be available to the membership this summer as a resource.

Also, the committee is proposing that reclassifying members be required to administer the test to their athletics coaches and administrators by the end of the second year of the reclassification period.

In other action regarding reclassifying members, the committee has recommended that the Management Council sponsor legislation at the 2002 NCAA Convention to require reclassifying members to complete an annual report for each year of the reclassification period, just as provisional members are required to do during the provisional period.

In other action, the committee noted that, based on the NCAA's 2000-01 sports sponsorship report, there are 27 Division III institutions, including provisional members, that do not yet meet the five-sport requirement, which begins August 2001 for the 2001-02 academic year. The committee plans to send a letter to each of these institutions this spring asking for verification that the school will be in compliance and requesting details regarding the school's action plan to achieve compliance.

Other highlights

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Division III Membership Committee
January 25-26/Marco Island, Florida

Recommended that NCAA staff conduct a pre-application educational session at the 2002 NCAA Convention for institutions that have expressed interest in becoming provisional members of Division III.

Recommended that the provisional-member orientations for first-year members feature only four to six provisional members at one time and be conducted in Indianapolis.

Recommended that the Management Council sponsor legislation permitting a three-year window to meet the sports sponsorship requirement for institutions making the transition from single gender to coeducational status.

Discussed the creation of a self-study guide, similar to the Institutional Self-Study Guide (ISSG), for Division III member conferences. The intent would be to provide a checklist of sorts for conferences to measure their own policies and procedures. The committee plans to gather additional feedback from the Division III commissioners (who are meeting in Indianapolis in June).

Discussed plans to send letters reminding Division III conferences of two particular pieces of legislation adopted at the 2000 NCAA Convention, which became effective August 1, 2001: one requiring that institutional CEOs have ultimate responsibility and final authority in Division III member conferences; and another requiring the establishment of conference student-athlete advisory committees. The committee will send letters to conferences reminding them and asking for verification of compliance with the requirements.