Institutions may already have finished answering a membership survey that seeks guidance on how to manage Division III's growth and diversity, among other issues, but the Division III Management Council made clear during its October 18-19 meeting that it has only just begun asking questions.

The Council took a quick peek at preliminary results of the survey, which had drawn responses from about 60 percent of Division III institutions as of mid-October. But rather than spend any time attempting to interpret those results, Council members immediately turned their attention to providing several opportunities during coming months for the membership to offer its own interpretation.

First, institutions that did not complete the survey before the September 30 deadline still can do so by October 29, as a result of the Council's desire to encourage the broadest participation possible in this first major effort of the "Future of Division III -- Phase II" initiative.

The survey seeks membership reactions to questions in these subject areas: management of growth; access to championships and other postseason opportunities; sport and program equity; sports sponsorship and broad-based programs; conference affiliation; aca-
demic success of student-athletes; and cultural and campus integration.

Then, the Council plans to give Division III's recently formed "virtual focus groups" -- e-mail discussion groups that include chief executive officers, athletics administrators, student-athletes and coaches from each conference -- their most important assignment to date.

Those groups, each moderated by a Council member, will be asked to review the survey results, offer opinions about which issues seem most important and discuss which should receive highest priority.

"We'll use the virtual focus groups for vetting the survey results between now and the Convention, so that when we discuss this on the Convention floor, we'll know we took these results, went out to the membership and asked for help with interpretation," said Suzanne Coffey, director of athletics at Bates College and chair of the Management Council.

"The Council demonstrated clearly in its discussion that it respects each institution's responses to the survey, and that it will guard against overanalyzing or over-interpreting the results. We're looking to the membership to help us understand the responses."

The 2005 Convention itself also will be a key event in that vetting process, as survey results and development of next steps will be the focus of a discussion forum planned January 9 in Dallas.

The Management Council recommended a format for that session to the Division III Presidents Council, which also will discuss the survey-discussion process during its meetings October 28 in Indianapolis, and to the Future of Division III -- Phase II Oversight Group (consisting of representatives from the Management and Presidents Councils and scheduled to meet October 27), which will lead the Convention session.

The Management Council recommended presentations focusing on three areas -- growth and championship issues, sports sponsorship and program equity issues, and academics and cultural issues -- after which the membership would split into roundtable discussion groups to discuss interpretations of survey results as shaped by the virtual focus groups. The roundtable groups also would be asked to discuss prioritizing the issues and suggest possible future actions.

"We'll continue to be in a mode of getting feedback from the membership at the forum," Coffey said. "We aren't coming to the forum with conclusions; we're coming from the first pass at vetting the survey results and interpretations, and asking the membership to help point us in the direction we ought to be going in."

Coffey noted that Council members also will continue to solicit input during their ongoing visits to conference meetings and in other forums.

"We want to do everything we can between now and the Convention to solicit feedback," she said.

Convention legislation

There will be no proposed legislation from the Future of Division III -- Phase II initiative up for debate at the Convention, but there currently are 12 proposals scheduled for consideration during the Division III business session January 10, including three proposals from member conferences.

The Council reviewed the membership proposals and recommended to the Presidents Council that it support one and oppose the other two.

It recommended support for a proposal by the Empire 8 that would give institutions the option to exempt an alumni game from contest limitations during either the traditional or nontraditional season in six sports -- baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball and women's volleyball.

However, the Council opposes a proposal by the American Southwest and New Jersey Athletic Conferences to allow limited skill instruction -- specifically, use of a football in passing-, catching- and kicking-related drills -- during the currently permitted five-week conditioning and strength-training period. Council members noted that the membership voted in 2002 to permit the five-week period for safety purposes (by improving ongoing strength and conditioning activities) rather than skill instruction.

The Council also opposes a proposal by the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference that would partially reverse the membership's vote at the 2004 Convention to prohibit coaches from providing safety or skill instruction during voluntary out-of-season workouts.

The conference is seeking to reinstate the "out-of-season exception," or what previously was termed the "safety exception," to permit coaches to be present during a voluntary workout in the sport of gymnastics. The sponsors suggest that complex, risky routines in the sport justify the presence of a coach to provide safety and skill instruction.

Council members opposed the proposal because student-athletes likely would not be permitted to work out on gymnastics equipment unless personnel are present to ensure safety (including coaches who are responsible for a facility and therefore permitted to fulfill safety responsibilities under current legislation, including spotting). Those members opposed extending the legislation to permit what they believe would amount to year-round gymnastics coaching by institutional staff members.

In other actions involving proposed and current legislation, the Council gave final review to nine other proposals that originated in the Division III committee structure and will be considered at the Convention.

The Council also approved publication in the Official Notice for the Convention of 42 legislative proposals deemed noncontroversial, 12 proposals to modify wording of legislation based on intent, and five proposals to incorporate interpretations into the Division III Manual.

Other highlights

Division III Management Council
October 18-19/Indianapolis

• Endorsed budget adjustments for Division III initiative grant programs in 2005-06, resulting in reallocations of $325,000 in the area of student-athlete well-being, $200,000 in membership education (including $25,000 for a new sportsmanship education initiative) and $100,000 in diversity.

• Received a status report on the voluntary, division-wide financial aid reporting "pilot" program to test reporting systems before implementation of the mandatory process in 2005-06, noting that 52 institutions have submitted final data so far. The Council also noted that the national office will continue to accept data after the November 1 pilot deadline, but institutions submitting reports after that date will not be eligible for a $1,000 one-time honorarium for participation.

• Approved an official interepretation that would permit an institution that is a member of a multisport conference, but participates in a sport independent from any conference, to use the "independents championship exemption" in that sport created by adoption of 2004 Convention Proposal No. 69.

• Approved a fall traditional season for the emerging sport of women's rugby, and established a limit of 10 contests in the sport.

• Asked the Division III Championships Committee to study the feasibility of expediting reimbursement to host institutions that sponsor spring championships, in response to reports that institutions sometimes are financially burdened because their fiscal year ends before they are reimbursed for championships expenses.

• Approved a Championships Committee recommendation that originated from the Baseball Rules Committee to disqualify both the offending individual and the head coach from a contest for a violation of the rule banning tobacco use.

• Approved a Division III Membership Committee recommendation to grant member conference status to the Great South Atlantic Conference.

• Granted the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy a waiver recommended by the Management Council's Administrative Review Committee, as well as an exemption recommended by the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee. The waiver of NCAA Bylaw 14.02.3, which initially was granted by the subcommittee for 2004-05 and now would be extended indefinitely, permits identified prospective student-athletes to attend a two-year institution in New Mexico that has been designated as a preparatory school for the academy. The exemption would relieve the academy from participating in the annual financial aid reporting process, on grounds that the institution (like other service academies) provides no institutional gift aid.