A piece of legislation deemed noncontroversial by the Division III Presidents Council was pulled out of a package of such legislation published in the Official Notice of the Convention and briefly debated by the membership at the request of the College of Mount St. Joseph. Steve Radcliff, athletics director at the college, said his institution did not disagree with the intent of the legislation, which was adopted by the Division III Presidents Council to enact a new football preseason conditioning model. He added, however, that the legislation should not have been treated as noncontroversial and should have been submitted to the membership as proposed legislation. Representatives of the Presidents Council and Division III Management Council defended the legislation and the manner in which it was adopted, noting "critical" health and safety concerns related to the 2003 football season, and delegates voted to incorporate the provision into the Division III Manual.

The Monday-morning business session, which featured debate and voting on the Future of Division III legislative package, lasted approximately three hours and 45 minutes --- but might have lasted longer if not for frequent use of a popular motion among delegates: "Call the question." Under NCAA Convention procedures, a delegate can move to end debate on a proposal. If that motion is adopted, delegates proceed directly to a decision. That request was made successfully five times during the session, ending debate on Proposal No. 57 (the "redshirting" proposal), Proposal Nos. 60 through 62 (playing and practice seasons), and Proposal No. 65-1 (the amendment to the multidivision classification proposal involving scholarships in Division I sports). A debate during the Monday-afternoon session on a motion to reconsider Proposal No. 63 (playing and practice seasons/nontraditional segment limitations) also was ended in that manner.

Delegates approved a proposal to permit independent institutions to create and participate in one exempted postseason tournament before teams are selected for NCAA championships, in the same manner as postseason conference tournaments. But approval came only after several delegates expressed concern that many of the details of those competitions still must be worked out by independents. The debate ended after representatives of two conferences -- Dennis Collins of the North Coast Athletic Conference and Richard Rasmussen of the University Athletic Association -- spoke in support of the proposal. "We don't require any details in regard to how conferences structure their tournaments; we leave it up to the conferences," Rasmussen said, adding that the independents should be accorded the same flexibility. Collins called on delegates to demonstrate "good faith" in approving the proposal.

The Division III Presidents Council met January 11 and named Phillip Stone, president of Bridgewater College (Virginia) and vice-chair of the Council, as chair-designate. Stone will become chair after the announced retirement later this year of John McCardell as president of Middlebury College.

Suzanne Coffey, director of athletics at Bates College, became chair of the Division III Management Council during its January 12 post-Convention meeting. Coffey succeeds Susan Bassett, director of athletics at William Smith College, whose term on the Management Council ended at the conclusion of the Convention. Coffey, who served during the past year as the Council's vice-chair, was succeeded in that position by Michael Miranda, faculty athletics representative at Plattsburgh State University of New York.

The Division III Commissioners Association presented Dan Dutcher, NCAA vice-president for Division III, and Bridget Belgiovine, director of Division III, with meritorious achievement awards at the close of the Monday-morning business session. The commissioners recognized the staff members for their work with various constituencies in Division III.

-- Jack Copeland