For more than a year now the tactics of a small number of people have been going on right under our noses and no one even noticed. These "colleagues" are the energetic, visionary, caring professionals you have come to know and trust. Words like "athletics certification" and "Knight Commission" roll off their tongues to make us believe they are "one of us."

Some of these people have infiltrated the NCAA and some, in fact, reside on your campus. If you don't look out, one of them will call you and set up a seemingly innocent meeting. They'll even make the trek across campus to your enclave of sports fanatics. Even worse, they'll want a meeting where you will be forced -- too easily -- to find your common mission and set mutual goals toward a better working relationship and supportive learning experience at your school.

What's going on here?

What's going on may be the best thing to happen in our academies of higher learning, our collegiate domain of sports and our student-centered temples.

Like it or not, we're coming.

We are those individuals on your campus who work in divisions called "student affairs," "student development" or "student services." We work long hours and on weekends -- just like you -- in situations where lives are changed, problems resolved and ethical dilemmas abound -- just like you. We have great days where the wins are exhilarating and terrible days where the losses are heartbreaking -- just like you.

If you are thinking that "we" is "me," you have caught on to my message. We are coaches and deans of students, athletics directors and vice-presidents for student services, CHAMPS/ Life Skills coordinators and admissions counselors, athletic trainers and financial aid directors, sports information directors and academic tutors.

The titles become less important, the differences less significant and the similarities more important. The most important of those

similarities is the student-centeredness -- no, let me change that -- the learner-centeredness of our work.

Who started this conspiracy anyway?

In the fall of 1999, the NCAA staff invited leaders of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) to meet with several CHAMPS/Life Skills Program coordinators. The focus was on how student services personnel and athletics personnel might collaborate to lead the promotion of services and skills available to support students who are athletes.

How do you join the conspiracy? Try any one of the following:

* Call up the senior student services administrator and engage in your own "what if we worked together?" rhetoric.

* Respond positively when you get a call from the NCAA asking you to participate in a panel on collaboration between athletics and student services.

* Get out of your offices and playing fields into places like the student union.

* Offer a leadership skills workshop to students.

* Offer a coaching skills workshop to staff.

* Co-sponsor staff development sessions with student services on topics of mutual concern.

* Volunteer for campus committees on critical issues such as diversity or strategic planning.

* Share readings with colleagues in student services on topics of interest.

* Share people, money and space.

* Always consider the impact of every decision on students as learners.

Together, we will conquer the individual issues and system-wide concerns that create hostile environments for our students, that distract from the academics, from developing core values and from taking responsibility. Together, we will be a powerful, passionate force that creates an environment supportive of student learning, of their ability to think critically, to develop leadership skills and a sense of service.

The tangible results are easily assessed and measured. They include higher rates of persistence, particularly among at-risk populations; higher graduation rates; a lessening of "time-to-degree;" increased hours of community service and less destructive behaviors by our students. It may come in the form of better grades but even more important, better learning.

Shannon Ellis is the president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the vice-president for student services at the University of Nevada.