PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island -- Division II is one step closer to a series of changes that will strengthen its initial- and continuing-eligibility requirements.

At its July 22-23 meeting, the Division II Management Council recommended that the Presidents Council sponsor legislation to increase the number of high-school core courses required for initial eligibility from 13 to 14, to make continuing-eligibility requirements more demanding and to solicit information from the membership about the desirability of requiring midyear academic certification for student-athletes. The Division II Academic Requirements Committee (ARC) recommended all three proposals.

The core-course proposal, which would permit a prospective student-athlete to satisfy the requirement by completing a 14th course in any core-course area, encountered the greatest resistance. Proponents believe that the completion of a 14th course would enhance college preparation with a minimal disparate impact on minority populations. Opponents, however, believe that the potential benefits are ill-defined and that the proposal does carry the risk of a disparate impact on minorities.

Todd Petr, NCAA director of research, said that while it is difficult to quantify how much graduation-rate benefit will accrue from the additional core course, research indicates that few prospective student-athletes ultimately will be made ineligible by the higher requirement. In some cases, a prospective student-athlete's core-course grade-point average may be depressed slightly when a 14th course is counted, perhaps pushing it below the required 2.000 in a few cases, but researchers believe that number will be very small. Even if that effect does occur, Petr said the benefits will exceed the liabilities and will have far less disparate impact on minorities than would increasing grade-point average or test-score requirements.

Petr noted that research has demonstrated that student-athletes who successfully complete a 14th core course tend to have higher standardized test scores, which would be a benefit for establishing initial eligibility.

The NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee has endorsed a similar proposal in Division I.

As for continuing eligibility, the Management Council supported an ARC proposal to amend Bylaw 14.4.3.2 to require that a student-athlete present a cumulative grade-point average of 1.800, 1.900 and 2.000 after the completion of 24, 48 and 72 hours, respectively.

The current standard is 1.600 after the first season of competition, 1.800 after the second and 2.000 after the third and subsequent seasons. The Presidents Council had asked the ARC to look at the continuing-eligibility standard in the belief that any student scoring only a 1.600 after two years would be extremely unlikely to graduate.

Both proposals would have to be approved through Convention legislation. The Presidents Council will review the recommendations at its August meeting.

The Management Council also endorsed an ARC initiative to solicit information from Division II conferences and institutions about the use of midyear certifications or post-term reviews of student-athlete grade-point averages. The ARC continues to be concerned with the practice of annual academic certification since it could permit some student-athletes, especially seniors in winter or spring sports, to participate without having attended class. At the same time, the ARC is sensitive to the staff demands that might be brought on by requiring midyear academic certification.

The ARC has heard reports that some conferences and institutions require midyear certification and therefore is interested in gaining more information on how, or if, such certifications are being accomplished.

Drug testing

The Management Council also approved additional drug-testing research for Division II baseball, although its action was a bit different from what had been anticipated. The Division II Championships Committee had asked for an extension of last year's baseball pilot study, which had "borrowed" football student-athletes from that sport's year-round testing program for the January through May period. After one year of testing, the committee concluded that the data were inadequate to determine whether a year-round program for baseball is necessary and recommended extending the pilot for another year.

At first, the Management Council approved that approach, but after further consideration, it came to believe that it would be useful to acquire data from throughout the year, rather than just the spring. Noting that funding had been set aside in anticipation of the need for a year-round baseball testing program, the Management Council authorized $30,000 to test baseball student-athletes in the fall on a pilot basis. The new approach will permit four baseball players (rather than two) to be tested at each site and will have the additional advantage of not lessening the number of football players being tested. The testing, however, still will be limited to programs sponsoring both football and baseball; otherwise, the cost of the pilot would exceed $100,000 because of travel expenses.

As with the previous pilot, the testing will be administered only to guide Division II's decision on whether to create a permanent year-round testing program in baseball. Student-athletes testing positive in baseball in the pilot program will not suffer eligibility consequences.

Amateurism

The Management Council also considered a final report from the Amateurism Project Team, which has been discontinued (its responsibilities now rest with the Division II Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee). The Management Council supported the project team's recommendation to allow transfer student-athletes requiring an academic year in residence to fulfill that requirement at a Division I or III institution. Previous legislation stated that the year in residence could be completed only at a Division II institution. The Management Council also approved language to clarify the definition of a professional athletics team for currently enrolled student-athletes.

The Management Council also agreed to sponsor legislation that would permit Division II student-athletes on the U.S. Olympic team or national team to compete in tournaments or events in which prize money is awarded, provided the student-athlete does not accept any portion of the prize money or assign his or her portion to a third party.

Other highlights

Division II Management Council
July 22-23/Providence, Rhode Island

Approved a competitive-safeguards committee recommendation that Division II health and safety conference grants provide for (1) coaches' education on issues affecting the health and safety of student-athletes during conditioning, practice and playing; (2) conference-wide meetings for medical personnel and athletic trainers at member institutions; (3) conference-wide CPR training for athletics personnel; (4) conference-wide training on nutrition and performance and performance-enhancing substance use; and (5) technology upgrades to allow conferences to access the Web-based Injury Surveillance System.

Referred back to the competitive-safeguards committee a proposal to provide information about the NCAA banned-drug list as an enclosure with the National Letter of Intent, noting that the NCAA does not administer the Letter of Intent program. The Management Council suggested including the information with the offer of financial aid as an alternative.

Noted a concern expressed by USA Track and Field and forwarded to the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee that the number of women's track and field coaches is in sharp decline.

Noted that the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee had forwarded to the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics a recommendation that women's freestyle wrestling be established as an emerging sport.

Approved a Bylaw 31 change to permit championships to reschedule competition before noon on a Sunday if extenuating circumstances such as weather might otherwise cause postponement of the event.

Agreed to recommend sponsorship of legislation to establish a National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship, effective with the 2003-04 academic year.

Agreed to sponsor legislation to add equestrian as a Division II emerging sport for women.

Approved minor changes to the Institutional Self-Study Guide, as recommended by the Division II Membership Committee, and noted that institutions in the process of completing their self-study may use either the new version (available on the NCAA Web site) or the previous version.

Noted that the following institutions had completed the provisional membership process and will become active Division II members in September: Benedict College; Bloomfield College; Caldwell College; Concordia University (Minnesota); Converse College; Dallas Baptist University; Dominican College (New York); Felician College; Georgian Court College; University of Minnesota, Crookston; Northwest Nazarene University; Nova Southeastern University; Ohio Valley College; Seattle University; St. Thomas Aquinas College; Teikyo Post University; and Tiffin University.

Referred to the Student-Athlete Involvement Project Team a proposal that the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee be provided a vote at the Convention and that student-athletes be made voting members of the Division II Academic Requirements, Championships and Legislation Committees (see related story, page 1).