GOVERNANCE

Division I Management Council approves academic package

The Division I Management Council approved the first part of a long-awaited academic enhancement package at its October 21-22 meeting.

The Council approved changes to initial and continuing eligibility that will become effective for the entering class of 2003.

The proposals will be forwarded to the Division I Board of Directors for adoption October 31. For initial eligibility, the new legislation increases the number of core courses from 13 to 14 and establishes a sliding scale that maintains the 2.000 grade-point average cut but eliminates the test-score cut.

Continuing-eligibility proposals also gained Council support. The primary proposal (No. 02-24-B) in that package revises the percentages of progress toward degree student-athletes must achieve from 25/50/75 to 40/60/80.

The initial- and continuing-eligibility components represent the first stage of a broader academic enhancement plan. The next step is to develop a new Academic Progress Rate that would be regarded as a more accurate measure of a team's "real-time" academic success.

STAFF CONTACT: David Berst

GOVERNANCE

Division II moves closer to expanded football bracket

The Division II Management Council approved a plan to expand the Division II Football Championship from 16 to 24 teams, effective with the 2003-04 academic year when it met October 21-22.

The Management Council approved almost all of the recommendations of the Division II Football Issues Project Team at its fall meeting, including bracket expansion, women's postseason opportunities, proposed changes to the Division II spring practice model and an educational initiative for out-of-season conditioning. The Council also approved 11 of 12 recommendations to change the Division II preseason practice model.

STAFF CONTACT: Mike Racy

GOVERNANCE

Division III Council endorses playing, practice season model

The Division III Management Council has endorsed a new playing and practice seasons model and has forwarded it to the Division III Presidents Council to consider at its meeting October 31.

The package includes an amendment-to-amendment to Proposal No. 39 that would allow for greater institutional autonomy and discretion while still maintaining the proposal's most significant components -- the length of playing seasons and related contest limits.

The new model still provides for a total playing season length of no more than 19 weeks, which still would be a reduction from the current allowance of 21. Fall sports and spring sports still would have a nontraditional segment of five weeks, and the contests (or dates of competition) would average one to two per week, as they did in the previous model. However, the new model provides for less restrictive start dates than the previous proposal, and it also retains the ability of institutions to exclude full weeks that include a vacation, final-examination period or holiday period during which no practice or competition occurs.

STAFF CONTACT: Dan Dutcher

DIVERSITY TRAINING

On-campus workshops be offered again this year

The NCAA will begin its second year of conducting its "Understanding Diversity and Creating Community" workshop on campus. The NCAA will provide a facilitator and training materials at no cost to an institution or conference office. Applications have been sent from the national office to all conference commissioners, athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives. Applications must be completed and sent to the national office by November 1, 2002.

For more information on the on-campus diversity workshops, go to NCAA Online at http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/prof_development/diversity_training_flyer.

STAFF CONTACT: Arthur Hightower