The student-athletes and Management Council spent significant time focusing on pending legislation, but the SAAC also identified three priorities -- sports wagering, sportsmanship and student-athlete mental-health issues -- for long-term consideration. While sports wagering and sportsmanship issues have been (and continue to be) considered by a number of other constituents, the appeal for the Association to focus on mental-health issues was fresh.

The concern centered on whether administrators may be overlooking emotional stresses in the lives of their student-athletes, especially those who seem strongest -- those who are physically gifted, academically sound and who exhibit good leadership.

"We know that everybody looks to student-athletes as being strong in all ways if they are physically healthy and performing well academically, but it's not necessarily the case," said SAAC member Jaime Petsch of St. Cloud State University. "We've all seen student-athletes who have eating disorders and others who have experienced hard times. But we don't always know how to get help. Making administrators more aware of potential problems would help, and it would help for student-athletes to know what resources are out there."

To that end, the student-athletes asked the Management Council to consider development of a set of best practices pertaining to mental health. Such practices might encourage institutions to address mental-health concerns in their student-athlete handbook, to train athletic trainers and coaches about emotional-danger signs, to identify mental-health resources available to student-athletes, to develop a protocol to be followed if a student-athlete is suspected of experiencing mental-health issues, and to build a system that encourages student-athletes to discuss their problems with one another.

Some student-athletes also suggested that Division II might be well-advised to regard excessive student-athlete gambling primarily as a mental-health issue.

A number of student-athletes and administrators said that the Association's message on sports wagering often is compromised because student-athletes and others believe that no harm comes to them, their sport, college basketball or the NCAA in general though their infrequent participation in low-dollar bracket pools. Yet, they said, their seemingly harmless behavior is addressed through the same harsh regulations that are designed to curtail abusive gambling and the serious consequences that accompany it.

SAAC members acknowledged their concern about a recent survey that revealed special gambling problems among Division II student-athletes. Yet, the student-athletes and administrators agreed that almost all of such betting is directed at professional and Division I events because of the wealth of available information and because the contests are commonly televised. That, some student-athletes said, suggests that Division II should be less focused on point-shaving and the like and more aware of the dangers that compulsive gambling has for any individual.

Other issues

The student-athletes and administrators also collaborated in discussions about the prospective changes to the Division II one-time transfer exception and to what may be done to curtail recruiting abuses. In the end, in both cases, the athletes and administrators appeared to support a "first-do-no-harm" position.

Regarding the transfer exception, the summit participants reviewed draft legislation that would strengthen academic requirements for all incoming transfer student-athletes and that would place special requirements on student-athletes transferring in to Division II institutions with only one year of eligibility remaining.

Although no straw votes were taken, the sentiment seemed to be that recent abuses have less to do with the current rule than with how it is enforced. Also, while some student-athletes expressed concern about losing the opportunity to participate at the expense of Division I transfers, others said they valued the athletics contributions of such individuals.

The athletes and administrators also discussed what can be done to clean up the recruiting environment. While the discussion was spirited, solutions were few. The student-athletes resisted reducing the current limit of five official visits for fear that it might reduce opportunities for those who use the visits legitimately. Some administrators also opposed reducing the limit because the result could be fewer visits to Division II institutions.

Student-athletes suggested curtailing big recruiting weekends and demanding more accountability for entertainment expenditures. Yet such approaches seemed to be more about treating symptoms than the overall problem.

Jill Willson, athletics director at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Management Council vice-chair, related the story of one Division I program that defended the expenditure of $180,000 on 25 prospects by saying that they could afford it.

"Where are we going in sport?" asked Willson, who also serves on the NCAA recruiting task force. "Where are we going with the idea that we can spend anything we want as long as we can afford it?"

She did not, however, give Division II a pass on recruiting matters, relating a frightening tale involving alcohol abuse at her own institution.

"Underage drinking on a recruiting visit is unacceptable," she said. "It's a problem to me as a coach, it's a problem to me as an athletics director and it's a problem to me as a person."

At its subsequent meeting, the Division II Management Council agreed to review recent Division I actions to control recruiting, with a commitment to examine changes that would be effective at the Division II level.

Washington, D.C., trip

While the student-athletes and administrators engaged in good dialogue about several issues, the most memorable part of the summit undeniably was the July 16 trip to Washington, D.C. Presidents Council Chair George Hagerty of Franklin Pierce College used his acquaintance with Presidential Chief of Staff Andrew Card to arrange for a White House visit. During their time in D.C., the student-athletes also visited the new World War II Memorial, along with the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials.

Hagerty also arranged for the group to dine at the National Press Club, where the student-athletes heard from Leslye Arsht, a Franklin Pierce College board member who has been called upon to help rebuild Iraq's Education Ministry, and journalist Helen Thomas.

The 83-year-old Thomas, who continues to write a syndicated column for Hearst, had no trouble spanning several generations to connect with the administrators and the student-athletes.

Thomas regaled the group with stories about her experience with the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy and Watergate, along with a number of lively observations about the current administration.

Contributions to Make-A-Wish Foundation

The Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has officially closed the books on its national fund-raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

After counting all of the contributions from the participating Division II conferences and the NCAA, the SAAC raised $43,774.15. The Northeast-10 Conference raised the most at $6,363.78.

The original goal was $5,000. The total includes $5,000 contributions from the Division II Management and Presidents Councils.

The SAAC plans to expand on the program in 2004-05.

Here are conference-by-conference contributions:

Conference/organization -- Funds raised

NCAA* -- $12,720.00

California Collegiate Athletic Association -- 829.44

Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference -- 1,165.53

Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -- 2,190.05

Great Lakes Valley Conference -- 520.66

Great Northwest Athletic Conference -- 104.00

Lone Star Conference -- 2,602.00

New York Collegiate Athletic Conference -- 926.97

North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -- 2,888.14

Northeast-10 Conference -- 6,363.78

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference -- 1,200.07

Pacific West Conference -- 1,230.00

Peach Belt conference -- 1,302.06

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference -- 1,107.00

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference -- 861.00

South Atlantic Conference -- 1,920.05

Sunshine State Conference -- 2,988.40

West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -- 2,641.00

Independents -- 241.00

Total funds raised -- $43,774.15

Conferences participating -- 18 (of 23)

Average/conference -- $1,725.00

*Includes governance matching funds, NCAA employees jeans day, NCAA Convention spare-change drive, NCAA Management Council fund-raiser, Division II Leadership Action Academy spare-change drive and personal supporters of Division II.