KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- The NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee (MOIC) discussed NCAA Executive Committee policies relating to NCAA institutions' use of hostile or abusive mascots, nicknames and imagery during its October 11-12 meeting.

The group reviewed actions that have occurred since the Executive Committee's adoption of MOIC recommendations that were forwarded through the Executive Committee Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity Issues. Released in August, the policies represent a major milestone in an issue the NCAA has debated since 2001.

"The MOIC has been deeply involved in the issue of hostile or abusive mascots, nicknames and imagery for a number of years," said Robert Vowels, commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and chair of the MOIC. "We are proud of and pleased with the Executive Committee's decision to adopt the recommendations, which were the result of clear commitment, detailed research and hard work on the part of MOIC and the NCAA.

"As we go forward, we want to continue to emphasize that the policies do not require or request institutions to change their mascots, nicknames or imagery. That is the prerogative of each individual institution. It also is important to recognize the policy is effective only in cases relating to championships competition."

Eighteen schools were targeted by the policies. A committee of NCAA national office staff members headed by Bernard Franklin, vice president for governance and membership services, has been assembled to review appeals from those schools. Florida State University, Central Michigan University and the University of Utah have won appeals. The University of North Dakota's appeal recently was denied, and appeals by Bradley University and Newberry College are pending. The deadline to appeal is February 1.

Hiring practices

The MOIC also reviewed two reports relating to the diversity and advancement opportunities of women and ethnic minorities in intercollegiate athletics administration. One is the 2004 Racial and Gender Report Card, issued in June 2005 by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics at Central Florida University, which grades gender and racial hiring practices at a number of levels within the Association. While the Association received overall grades of "B-" for race and "B+" for gender, the NCAA also earned a grade of "F" in race for Division I head football coaches; in gender for faculty athletics representatives; and in both race and gender for athletics directors, conference commissioners and presidents.

The other is the Coaching and Gender Equity Project Report (CAGE), which was released in August and has a narrower focus on the decline of females coaching women's collegiate teams.

Both reports were based on data provided by the Association.

Vowels expressed the committee's disappointment with the results of both reports.

"Some progress has been made, but the representation of women and ethnic minorities must increase. The MOIC is committed to continuing its work to remedy this situation," he said.

Vowels noted that the committee already is discussing ways to approach the problems, such as tracking the total number of opportunities available in coaching and administration.

Also, during the portion of the MOIC meeting in which members met jointly with the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA), the committees expressed concern about the Racial and Gender Report Card grading system, including a grade of "A" awarded to gender hiring of women coaching women's teams in Division I. In Division I, only 41.9 percent of women's teams are coached by women. Coaching of women by women actually decreased in all three divisions. Thus, both committee felt the "A" grade was too high.

Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, said that although a grade of "B-" was awarded to the racial diversity of senior women administrators, females of color occupied an overall total of only 11.1 percent of the positions. Moreover, a grade of "C" was awarded for racial diversity in associate and assistant athletic directors. In Division I, though, white women held 27.3 percent of those jobs, while black women held 1.9 percent, Asian women 0.1 percent, Latinas 0.5 percent and Native American women 0.1 percent.

Those statistics also were reflected in the CAGE report, which noted that regarding race, the proportion of nonwhite full-time coaches, particularly among women, is very low. More than 84 percent of men who are full-time coaches are white, as are more than 90 percent of full-time women coaches. In contrast, as of the 2003-04 academic year, a little more than 70 percent of NCAA male student-athletes and just under 80 percent of referent women were white. Across male and female athletes, student-athletes of color are being lost in the pipeline of coaching at about twice the rate of white students.

In response, the committee decided that it will focus its future review of budget proposals for fiscal years 2006-08, both as a single committee and jointly with the CWA, with an eye toward supporting programs that improve racial hiring practices for head coaches for Division I women's teams, head coaches for football teams, athletics directors, associate and assistant athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives.

Other issues

In other actions, MOIC heard an update on the NCAA office for diversity and inclusion. The office plans to work closely with the Black Coaches Association on the release of the BCA's third annual hiring report card focusing on the diversity of Division I-A football head coaches. The report card is tentatively scheduled to be made public in early to mid-November.

Also, both the MOIC and CWA reviewed a preliminary list of budget requests for the 2006-08 biennial cycle. Items will be prioritized and finalized during the committees' next joint meeting in January in Indianapolis.

In addition, MOIC and CWA members reviewed potential changes in and legal concerns surrounding the senior woman administrator designation. As part of the discussion, the groups passed a recommendation to encourage Divisions I, II and III conferences to model member institutions' practice of designating a senior woman administrator. (See CWA story elsewhere on this page.)

MOIC members also received an update on current diversity programming, including the Women and Minority Issues Seminar, the Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Females and the Men's Coaching Academy.