When the Division I Management Council conducted a postmortem of the inaugural Legislative Review Forum at last year's NCAA Convention, Alison Cone, Council member and senior associate director of athletics at California Polytechnic State University, said the first forum set the bar for subsequent sessions.

"Now that people have seen it and understand that they are expected to engage in discussion, that will build participation in future years," she said.

The 2005 NCAA Convention is the first of those future years, and the Council wants to make sure that Division I members attend -- and actively participate in -- the second annual forum Saturday, January 8.

The forum, created to energize Division I members' participation in the legislative process, attracted about 300 people last year who heard from sponsors about why various proposals should be adopted. But while the session provided ample education, there wasn't as much debate as organizers had hoped.

The forum was designed to fill a debate void some believe was created when Division I went to a representative form of governance in 1997. While representatives in the current structure may formulate their votes based on debate at a campus or conference level, there isn't the opportunity for the national exchange of ideas that the floor debates provided at the pre-1998 Conventions.

Division I established an issues forum several years ago at the Convention (typically held on Monday) to generate discussion about pressing matters, and while it has drawn interest from the membership, it tends to be more global in scope and rarely addresses more than a handful of actual legislative proposals. While that forum continues to have its own value, the Management Council added the Legislative Review Forum to focus specifically on legislation.

'Consider all viewpoints'

Kate Hickey, who chairs the Council's Legislative Review Subcommittee that runs the forum, said she wants Division I members to use the session to help the subcommittee look at proposals in as broad a scope as possible. "We want to consider all viewpoints," said the associate director of athletics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick. "We can't do that if people don't come and participate."

While sponsors spoke to the proposals last year and provided the educational component people were after, there wasn't much response from attendees who disagreed with the merits of a particular measure, and thus not much debate ensued.

"I can understand the dynamics at work when people who may be against a given proposal may see no value in getting up in front of this particular group and speaking their mind," she said. "But the whole notion of this being an idea exchange needs to be emphasized. There may be people in the room who believe that a proposal is a good piece of legislation, but somebody else may present some good arguments that supporters of the proposal hadn't thought about. That's the value of the forum that we think needs to be realized."

Hickey said her subcommittee can point out concerns with various proposals, but she noted that the subcommittee is not charged with speaking for or against legislation. Council members reinforced that idea during their review when they said they'd like to see more debate generated from the floor than from the head table.

"One of the subcommittee's functions is to present to the Management Council initially -- and to the membership ultimately -- the questions and concerns we have should a particular proposal become legislation, not from the perspective of our individual institutional roles, but from the perspective of potential liabilities overall. We certainly will raise those issues, and we want to identify people who have an alternative viewpoint and encourage them to speak at the forum."

Education and debate

Management Council Chair and America East Conference Commissioner Chris Monasch said those alternate viewpoints may emerge if a broader cross section of the membership -- and the governance structure -- attends. Council members said that the two cabinets should be better represented, and that conference representatives at the Convention for league meetings should be encouraged to attend as well. That's why the forum is scheduled on Saturday -- to give conferences that meet beforehand a chance to be better prepared to hear both sides of important proposals at the forum. That way, conference Management Council representatives can develop a more educated voting position.

"The forum is an important opportunity for the membership to debate the legislation in front of them," Monasch said. "There are a number of people in the membership who miss the old days of the Convention, and I think the forum gives them the opportunity for that kind of debate -- to hear different views from around the country and from within the Association. It's important that we continue to grow that concept."

There are a number of controversial measures under consideration in this year's legislative cycle to spur debate. Comprehensive packages from the men's and women's basketball coaches associations, a proposal for a permanent 12th game in I-A football, a request to reduce the number of official visits in football and basketball, and a measure that adds a fifth year of eligibility in football are just some of the proposals that already have stirred discussion.

And though the proposals are weighty in scope, Hickey said the Legislative Review Forum can do the heavy lifting.

"We want Division I members to be as educated on the proposals as possible," she said. "The forum can provide that education -- not only through information, but through thoughtful debate and idea exchange. We know that a lot of people on campus don't have time to look at all of the proposals -- I wonder how and if I would find the time to do it if I wasn't in this role. But this is an opportunity for them to come and hear different viewpoints on a number of proposals that they might not have thought about on their own.

"Education and debate -- that's what we want."

And forum organizers hope that's what they'll get.