The Division III Presidents Council will sponsor a "reform" package for consideration at the 2004 Convention that seeks to shape the division's future.

Meeting August 7 in Indianapolis, the Council approved all of the reform recommendations received from the Division III Management Council, including proposals to:

Create an annual electronic reporting process to examine and compare financial aid awarded to student-athletes and nonathletes;

Eliminate financial aid funds or endowments that benefit student-athletes;

Enact an approximately 10 percent reduction in the length of playing and practice seasons and a 10 percent reduction across all sports in the number of contests;

End the practice of "red-shirting" by counting practice as well as competition in what would be termed "seasons of participation," and;

Grant a "self-release" opportunity to student-athletes interested in transferring while strengthening sanctions on coaches, administrators and athletics representatives involved in impermissible contact with student-athletes at other schools.

The Council also confronted the thorny issue of Division III institutions granting financial aid in sports classified in another division, agreeing after considerable discussion to sponsor proposed legislation to end the practice, effective in 2008. Council members' discussion of the question centered on a desire to ensure adherence to Division III philosophy, paired with concern about the implications of imposing the restriction on a small number of institutions regarded as valued members of the division.

Having established the form of the proposals that Division III members will consider at the January Convention, the Council now turns its attention to winning those members' approval.

"The reform package voted today is the result of a serious and sustained effort involving a broad consultation within the membership," said John McCardell, president of Middlebury College and Council chair. "There has been some doubt voiced in some quarters about the ability of a division as large and as diverse as ours to do anything more than tinker around the edges of reform. This package suggests not only a willingness but an ability to do more -- and to do it in a holistic manner."

Membership involved

The proposals stemmed from efforts by a joint oversight group composed of members of the Management Council and Presidents Council that was formed to consider appropriate legislation for the future of Division III. The Division III membership has been involved in the two-year process via a comprehensive survey and participation in several focus groups, as well as visits by Management Council members to meetings of various conferences and interested groups.

"Throughout the process we have been guided by not only the belief but the necessity that we need to bring our practices in line with our philosophy," McCardell said. "This process has required us to examine our philosophy, and through this package of proposals, to reaffirm it. Our focus has been and remains not on 'current problems' but on our future direction."

Even as the Council dealt with the 2004 reform proposals, members frequently reminded themselves that other issues remain, and took the step of agreeing to sponsor a resolution at the Convention committing Division III to reviewing a number of issues related to membership growth.

The resolution would direct a review as part of the division's strategic-planning process of the broad-based program and sport-equity philosophies, access to championships and other postseason events, access to programs and services, and greater exercise of institutional and conference autonomy.

However, the Council's primary focus during the next five months will be adoption of the reform package.

The financial aid reporting measure is perhaps the most anticipated of the proposals. It would create an electronic reporting process that would examine and compare, on an institutional basis, financial aid awarded to student-athletes with that awarded to nonathletes. The reporting process would include a pilot program for the entire membership next fall, while the actual process would begin in 2005.

Council members satisfied themselves that financial aid personnel who will be called upon to report the data have been fully represented in discussions about the program, and expressed the belief that the process ultimately will help ensure that at each Division III institution, the financial aid received by student-athletes will be representative of the aid received by the general student body.

Another financial aid-related proposal sponsored by the Council would eliminate financial aid funds or endowments that solely benefit athletics. Current legislation permits such funds or endowments, provided they were received by an institution before 1979. If adopted, the legislation would become effective in 2008, giving institutions time to work with donors to alter terms specifying application of such funds to athletics, and to ensure that no student-athlete currently assisted by such funds is adversely affected.

The playing-and-practice-seasons proposal would reduce current playing seasons in Division III to 18 weeks in fall sports and 19 weeks in winter and spring sports, a reduction from the current 21-week seasons.

Meanwhile, the proposal to reduce the number of contests by 10 percent includes a feature permitting institutions flexibility to achieve those reductions through combined scheduling in the traditional or nontraditional playing season, so long as current caps on the number of contests in each of those periods is not exceeded. As a result, an institution that wishes to continue playing the same number of contests it currently plays in the traditional season could do so and accommodate the reduction by playing correspondingly fewer contests in the nontraditional segment.

In proposals addressing eligibility and recruiting, the Council endorsed the concept of limiting student-athletes to four seasons of participation, with "participation" defined to include not only contests but any practice occurring after the first contest in which the athlete could compete. Adoption of the proposal effectively would end the practice of "red-shirting" in Division III, in which student-athletes currently may practice but not participate in competition without loss of a season of eligibility. The proposal -- which is intended to emphasize progress toward degree while relieving student-athletes of pressures to practice with a team in order to retain the opportunity to compete in future seasons -- still would permit limited preseason tryouts, as well as currently available opportunities for "hardship" and other waivers.

The Council also endorsed a proposal to permit student-athletes to "self-release" so they can speak to athletics personnel at other institutions regarding transfers, requiring only that the student-athlete provide the written release to the director of athletics at the institution where he or she is interested in transferring. The proposal also would direct the Division III Committee on Infractions to pursue more aggressively impermissible contact with a transfer prospect initiated by a coach, athletics administrator or athletics representative.

The reform package also includes the following measures:

A proposed revision of the Division III philosophy statement, to "assure that athletics recruitment complies with the established policies and procedures applicable to the institutional admissions process."

The amendment of Bylaw 17.9.9 to eliminate safety exceptions to playing-and-practice-seasons limits currently permitted in fencing, gymnastics, rifle, rowing, skiing, and swimming and diving.

The only reform-package recommendation that prompted lengthy debate during presidents' deliberations was the proposal to eliminate financial aid awarded by Division III member institutions in sports classified in another division. Under the proposal, Division III institutions that sponsor a Division I sport would be prohibited from offering athletics scholarships in those sports, though they could still could compete at the Division I level.

The proposal currently would affect 13 sports sponsored at eight institutions. The institutions that would be affected are St. Lawrence University (men's and women's ice hockey); Colorado College (men's ice hockey and women's soccer); Johns Hopkins University (men's and women's lacrosse); Clarkson University (men's and women's ice hockey); Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (men's ice hockey); Hartwick College (men's soccer and women's water polo); State University at Oneonta (men's soccer); and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark (men's volleyball).

Three schools currently offer sports in Division I but do not offer athletics aid: Hobart College (men's lacrosse), Union College (New York) (men's and women's ice hockey), and Franklin & Marshall College (wrestling).

During discussion, the presidents noted that the proposal does not prohibit institutions from sponsoring a sport in another division, even though interest was expressed in the Division III membership survey for ending that practice. Supporters of the proposal also noted that the recommendation is consistent with the fundamental Division III proposal of offering no athletics aid to student-athletes.

But concern was expressed during discussion that the affected institutions in many cases have lengthy traditions in the sports -- a factor that may force those institutions to make difficult decisions about the level at which they will compete in athletics.

In the end, a majority of Council members opted to favor future adherence to Division III philosophy, noting that goal is a primary objective of the reform package. If adopted by the membership, the proposal would include an August 1, 2008, effective date to give affected schools adequate time to prepare. The Council also pledged to maintain communication with the affected institutions to ensure they are given a full opportunity to present their views about the proposal to the membership and otherwise assist those schools as appropriate.

Indeed, the Council noted that its action on the entire reform package is not the last word on any of the proposals, since the membership has the next five months to consider the merits of the proposals, as well as potential modification through the amendment-to-amendment process, before it votes at the Convention.

Division III members have until November 1 to submit amendments to amendments. The Presidents Council also will have another opportunity to review the package at its October 30 meeting in Indianapolis.

Other highlights

Division III Presidents Council
August 7/Indianapolis

Agreed to sponsor legislation at the 2004 Convention that would amend the NCAA Constitution to require, as a condition and obligation of Association membership, that an institution certify on an annual basis insurance coverage for athletically related injuries sustained by specified participants in covered events.

Approved a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to mandate that student-athletes participating in NCAA championships in women's lacrosse wear protective eyewear during the 2004 NCAA championship and thereafter, and to strongly encourage the use of protective eyewear during the 2003-04 playing and practice season.

Declined to sponsor legislation that would have permitted an institution to finance specified medical expenses that are not incidental to a student-athlete's participation in intercollegiate athletics.

Reviewed and approved the Division III strategic plan for 2003-04.

Reviewed membership-sponsored legislative proposals for the 2004 Convention, noting that it would review the proposals again at its October meeting and consider support of or opposition to the proposals at that time.

Welcomed a new member, Dale T. Knobel, president of Denison University. The Council also ratified the appointment of John T. Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall College, to an immediate vacancy.

Noted the resignation from the Council of R. Kevin LaGree, president of Simpson College, who served as the Council's vice-chair and will continue to chair the Division III Financial Aid Review Task Force through the January Convention; also, encouraged nominations from Council members to fill the vice-chair vacancy before the Council's October meeting.