Chief executive officers at Division III institutions are joining athletics administrators in recognizing the importance of the 2004 Convention, judging from advance registration totals.

At least one-fourth of the 420 institutional CEOs at member universities and colleges will be present in Nashville, where they will participate in a legislative issues forum on January 11 and voting on the "Future of Division III" legislative package January 12. That's more than twice the number of CEOs that have attended any previous Convention.

More than 750 delegates from Division III institutions have registered to attend -- about 200 more than last year -- and thus the crowd alone seems likely to make this a memorable gathering. But it also will be an eventful Convention, where those delegates will engage in discussion of, and ultimately determine the fate of, each of the nine proposals in the "reform" package sponsored by the Division III Presidents Council.

The proposals are the product of a two-year effort -- aided by extensive membership dialogue and input -- to align practices at member institutions more closely with Division III philosophy.

In a few instances, the Council's proposals seek to address longstanding concerns in the areas of financial aid, eligibility and recruiting, playing and practice seasons, and obligations of membership:

One year after Division III members narrowly rejected a proposal designed to standardize playing and practice seasons across sports, they will consider a new approach to that issue.

The Presidents Council is sponsoring Proposal No. 60 to reduce the length of playing seasons (to 18 weeks in fall sports and 19 weeks in winter and spring sports) and reduce the number of contests in each Division III sport by 10 percent. A key feature of that proposal would permit institutions flexibility in achieving those contest reductions through combined scheduling in the traditional and nontraditional playing seasons, so long as current caps on the number of contests in each of those periods is not exceeded.

There also are competing membership proposals addressing the issue. Proposal Nos. 62 and 63 target the nontraditional segment, either by eliminating competition in most sports (No. 62) or reducing competition and the length of the segment (No. 63). Another approach, Proposal No. 61, would reduce the overall season length in the same manner as proposed by the Presidents Council, without cutting the number of contests.

Two years after the Presidents Council withdrew a proposal to implement a financial aid audit requirement, the Council is proposing an electronic reporting process designed to compare financial aid packages provided to freshman and transfer student-athletes with those provided to nonathletes.

The proposal seeks to provide a means of monitoring compliance with the Division III philosophy of granting no financial aid to students on the basis of athletics ability. It targets a concern that has been a source of debate among division members for decades.

After two decades of proposals addressing various aspects of multidivision classification, the membership will consider controversial Proposal No. 65, which would eliminate a waiver that currently permits eight Division III institutions to offer athletically related aid in Division I sports programs.

The Presidents Council is sponsoring the proposal in keeping with the reform agenda's overall intent of bringing institutional practices in line with philosophy, in this case again targeting the tenet of no athletically related financial aid.

The eight institutions vigorously have opposed the proposal and are sponsoring an amendment-to-amendment intended to permanently extend the existing waiver for those schools while prohibiting its future use by other institutions that qualified to receive the waiver when it was created in 1983.

The institutions are basing their opposition on the negative impact they believe elimination of the waiver will have on affected sports programs and their ability to compete, on the schools and their surrounding communities, and on the development of the sports -- particularly, ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer -- in which those programs compete.

Among other elements of the package that could produce considerable debate are Proposal No. 57, which aims to eliminate the practice referred to as "redshirting" by limiting student-athletes to four years of athletics com-
petition and practice; Proposal No. 59, which would permit student-athletes to "self-release" to speak to athletics departments at other Division III institutions regarding a possible transfer; and Proposal No. 64, which would eliminate a current exception that permits out-of-season instruction between coaches and student-athletes in fencing, gymnastics, rifle, rowing, skiing, and swimming and diving.

The large number of CEOs who will be present for discussion and voting on those proposals may bring a new dynamic to Division III deliberations, if those institutional leaders are able to exercise influence in proportion to their increased presence.

CEOs attending the Convention will be greeted with a newly structured meeting format designed to involve them in full consideration of the reform package, as well as encourage greater discussion within conferences and among institutions.

In the past, Division III has conducted its business in a more compressed time period, gathering Sunday afternoon to discuss issues, then returning on Monday morning to vote on proposed legislation.

But this year's schedule features a Sunday-morning business session intended to generate discussion of the reform package. That session, which also could include such business as changing the order in which proposals will be considered during voting, will be followed by a CEO luncheon focusing further on the reform package and the future of the division. Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning will feature conference and independent-school meetings, where CEOs and athletics administrators attending the Convention will have an opportunity to discuss issues.

Division III members then will reconvene Monday morning for voting on the reform package and other proposals in the Presidents Council grouping, then gather again after lunch to consider remaining proposals.

Legislative issues forum

The Sunday-morning session, called a "legislative issues forum," will feature presentations and discussion of elements of the Future of Division III package. Those elements are:

* Financial aid. Kevin LaGree, president of Simpson College and chair of the Division III Financial Aid Review Task Force, and Karen Johnson, director of institutional research at Alfred College, a member of the task force and chair of the Financial Aid Subgroup of the Joint Subcommittee on the Future of Division III, will present information and lead question-and-answer sessions relating to Proposal Nos. 55 (athletics endowments) and 56 (electronic financial aid reporting process).

* Eligibility and recruiting. Phillip Stone, president of Bridgewater College (Virginia) and vice-chair of the Presidents Council, and Leon Lunder, director of athletics at Carleton College and chair of the joint subcommittee's Eligibility and Recruiting Subgroup, will lead discussion relating to Proposal Nos. 57 (the "redshirting" proposal), 58 (recruiting philosophy statement) and 59 (student-athlete self-release).

* Playing and practice seasons. John Harper, director of athletics at Bridgewater State College (Massachusetts) and chair of the joint subcommittee's Playing and Practice Subgroup, and Connee Zotos, director of athletics at Drew University and member of the subgroup, will conduct discussion of Proposal Nos. 60 through 64 (limits on length of seasons and contests in the traditional and nontraditional segments).

* Membership. Christopher Bledsoe, director of athletics at New York University and chair of the joint subcommittee's Membership Subgroup, and Douglas Hastad, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and member of the subgroup, will lead discussion of Proposal Nos. 65 (athletics aid in sports classified in Division I) and 66 (resolution to study aspects of membership growth).

Suzanne Coffey, director of athletics at Bates College, will lead discussion on other proposed legislation. This will include Proposal No. 67, which would implement individual/team automatic qualification for Division III championships. The sponsors have indicated they intend to withdraw the proposal in anticipation of proposed legislation for the 2005 Convention from the Division III Championships Committee and Division III Management Council, but the forum still offers an opportunity for membership discussion of the topic.

The forum also will feature remarks by current Presidents Council Chair John McCardell of Middlebury College, former Presidents Council Chair Bette Landman of Arcadia University, and Management Council Chair Susan Bassett of William Smith College.

In addition to Sunday afternoon's meetings for conferences and independent institutions, there will be Association-wide programs aimed at CEOs. They include a session describing the NCAA strategic plan and a session titled "The Integration of Intercollegiate Athletics and Academics: A True Change in Philosophy or Business As Usual With A Different Label?"

Other events of interest

NAD3AA is sponsoring a session, "Financing Intercollegiate Athletics During Fiscally Challenging Times" from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday, January 10.

An "NCAA 101"session is scheduled for new CEOs and exploratory members from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, January 10.

Sessions are scheduled for athletics administrators at Division III provisional member institutions from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. and for CEOs at provisional institutions from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, January 10.

The annual NAD3AA reception is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, January 12.