HUNTINGTON BEACH, California -- Most of the time at the seventh summit meeting between the Division II Management Council and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee was spent on a review of prospective legislation, but the meat of the meeting may have been a two-hour period that provided the student-athletes with a forum to identify issues of concern.

During that time of the July 19-20 meeting, the student-athletes took advantage of the opportunity to identify issues relating to health and safety, student-athlete representation, the interaction between national SAAC members and conference SAACs, fund-raising and community-service initiatives, and the accountability of coaches. They also asked for Division II to pay more attention to developing CHAMPS/Life Skills programs.

The health and safety discussion dealt principally with how 15-passenger vans are used to transport student-athletes. A show of hands revealed that at least half of the 25 attending student-athletes either were required or permitted to drive such vans, which have safety problems if loaded improperly or operated by inexperienced or fatigued drivers.

"As a senior, I was required to drive a van to and from competition," said one student-athlete. "It wasn't uncommon to drive six hours to and from games. That didn't seem reasonable just because I was 21." To make matters worse, the student-athlete later learned that the van might not even have been the most cost-efficient transportation alternative.

Another student-athlete said that her institution required her teams to drive back on competition nights to avoid lodging expenses. The result could be returns to they heard about vans. "There are some practices going on out there that are just scary," one member said.

Although no votes were taken, there appeared to be a consensus that student-athletes should not be driving 15-passenger vans -- in fact, insurance policies at many institutions forbid it.

Beyond that, the student-athletes and administrators discussed other potentially helpful policies, such as making certain that coaches are tested and trained in the operation of 15-passenger vans and that clear policies are in place to control the circumstances under which the vans can be used (for example, trips of less than 200 miles).

One administrator also suggested that student-athletes be asked to assess coaches' driving abilities as part of any evaluation process; she said a particularly important question might be whether a coach's driving is affected by a disappointing loss.

The issue typically is cast as a financial concern, but one administrator said that "it only takes one liability suit to make up the difference." One athletics director was pleased that the student-athletes are tracking on the issue, saying, "If student-athletes are making a fuss, more will happen from your voice than mine."

Time demands

The student-athletes also felt strongly about required or excessive involvement in activities that generally are considered voluntary, such as fund-raising and community service. They also expressed concern about practices that might be considered coercive.

One student-athlete said his coach set up a process in which each student-athlete was required to raise $300. When the athlete raised only $200, he was asked to pay the balance. Punishment, usually in the form of extra running, also is dispensed for fund-raising shortfalls, student-athletes said.

The administrators said that some practices may be over the top, but they said that the need to raise money is a hard reality in the world of college athletics and especially in Division II. They said the best practice might be for athletics directors to require coaches to spell out in advance how much money they will need to raise, what student-athlete involvement will be required and what time will be demanded of student-athletes.

There seemed to be agreement that it would be a good practice to advise student-athletes in advance -- perhaps through documents such as the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete -- that they may be required to be involved in fund-raising and community-service activities. Also, a new guide for enrolled student-athletes could frame what practices are permissible and what remedies may be available to student-athletes when demands become excessive. Administrators were reminded at the July 22 Management Council meeting that any activity that is required by the athletics department, including fund-raising and community-service work, must be regarded as a countable athletics activity.

When demands from coaches become excessive, student-athletes expressed a concern that they don't necessarily know where to turn for help (see "A matter of time" in the May 12 issue of The NCAA News). They agreed that faculty athletics representatives and SAAC advisors have a role to play. However, campus SAACs are not necessarily strong or highly regarded and the local FAR may not be known to a typical student-athlete. To that, student-athletes suggested that FARs be required to attend the first team meetings of the year to introduce themselves, identify their role, and assert their independent position in dealing with disputes between student-athletes and coaches.

In a follow-up discussion, administrators considered whether Division II might want to follow Division I's lead and require that each school have an exit-interview process. Many institutions already have an exit-interview structure in place, and Paul Engelmann, faculty athletics representative at Central Missouri State University, noted that sample questions can be obtained at the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association site on NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org).

The student-athletes also said they believed that Division II needs to do a better job collectively of establishing CHAMPS/Life Skills programs. Although the usual reason for not implementing such programs is financial, John Dano, a baseball player from Missouri Western State College, said that 64 percent of the schools that have programs have budgets of $2,500 or less. "It mostly takes time," he said.

Since only institutions that have life skills programs may have student-athletes participate in the annual national Student-Athlete Leadership Conference, Division II representation at that event is sparse. "When we had our division breakout sessions," Dano said, "Division I had theirs in a huge room, and we had a discussion among a few people sitting in a circle. But it's where many of today's topics were brought up."

The bulk of the time at the SAAC/Management Council summit was devoted to legislative review, and most of that focused on Bylaw 12 and 16 deregulation proposals that will be considered at the January Convention. Presidents Council proposals and membership-sponsored proposals also were considered.

II SAAC to take community service to national level

Division II hasn't been afraid of the big idea in recent years, so it should come as no surprise that the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has checked in with a ground-breaking community-service concept.

In this case, the "community" is the nation. The SAAC has agreed to pilot an effort to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The details will be provided later this summer, but Nicole Deblois, the SAAC representative from Bentley College, said she expects the initiative to raise several hundred thousand dollars for Make-a-Wish, which provides special opportunities to young people with life-threatening illnesses.

Deblois, a marketing major at Bentley, said student-athletes and administrators at Division II institutions soon will receive a letter describing the program, a timeline of what will take place throughout the year and a contribution form. Although the program will be limited to Division II in the first year, Deblois said she hopes it can be extended to Divisions I and III.