The Division II Academic Requirements Committee will ask the Division II Management Council to sponsor legislation that would place an academically oriented restriction on 4-4 transfers who have only one year of eligibility remaining.

The committee, which met February 3-5, is recommending that student-athletes with only one remaining year of athletics eligibility who are transferring from a four-year institution to a Division II institution would be required to have satisfactorily completed an average of 12 semester or 12 quarter hours of transferable degree credit. That credit would have to apply to a specific, designated degree program with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.000.

The recommendation is a follow-up to 2005 Convention Proposal No. 27. That proposal, sponsored by the Great Lakes Valley and Northeast-10 Conferences, would have required transfers from Division I institutions to establish a year of residence at the Division II institution before being eligible to compete. The proposal was defeated by a vote of 36-216-1.

At the Convention, the consensus appeared to be that the legislation was well intended but that it would adversely affect academically qualified student-athletes who were transferring for legitimate reasons. During Convention debate, the membership was advised that the Academic Requirements Committee would address the issue by adding a suitable academic component.

The rationale for the new proposal states that such a rule would make certain that a transferring student-athlete with one year of eligibility remaining would be on track to graduate. If the transferring student-athlete does not meet the standard, then he or she would have to establish an academic year in residence at the certifying institution, thus providing additional time to make appropriate progress toward a degree.

The proposal also would maintain the previous requirement that a student-athlete must have been eligible at the originating institution and that the restriction would not apply to any student-athlete who has already earned a baccalaureate degree.

The effective date would be August 1, 2007, to allow time to educate student-athletes about the additional requirements.

The committee plans to survey the membership to acquire more information on the subject and may modify its proposal at its June meeting.

Six-hour rule

The committee also addressed waiver opportunities for the six-hour rule [Bylaw 14.4.3.1-(a)] that was approved at the 2004 Convention. That rule requires that any Division II student-athlete must have satisfactorily completed six semester or quarter hours of academic credit during the preceding academic term to be eligible for competition.

A set of compelling mitigating circumstances that would justify a waiver was approved. Those circumstances include:

• Situations clearly supported by contemporaneous medical documentation that indicate that the student-athlete was unable to complete the six-hour requirement as a result of life-threatening physical or mental circumstances suffered by the student-athlete or a family member.

• Natural disasters, such as earthquakes or floods.

• Extreme financial difficulties resulting from a specific event, such as a layoff or a death in the family, experiences by the student-athlete or by an individual upon whom the student-athlete is legally dependent. Such circumstances would have to have prevented the student-athlete from completing the six-hour requirement, and they must be clearly supported by objective documentation (for example, a bankruptcy decree or proof of termination). The circumstances also must be beyond the control of the student-athlete or the individual upon whom the student-athlete is dependent.

The committee also noted elements that would not be considered compelling mitigating circumstances for waiver purposes. They include misadvisement by an institutional staff member, the nonrecruited status of the student-athlete, an illness or injury that is not life-threatening or a lack of understanding about progress-toward-degree requirements. The committee noted that the list of non-mitigating circumstances is not all-inclusive.

Other highlights

Division II Academic Requirements Committee
February 3-5/Fort Myers, Florida

• Determined that student-athletes must meet all grade-point averages required for graduation to satisfy Bylaw 14.4.3.2. Several Division II institutions require students to attain minimum grade-point averages in multiple areas to graduate, such as overall coursework, major coursework and minor coursework. This has caused confusion among institutional personnel as to which GPAs should be used to satisfy NCAA legislation. Under the agreed-upon application of the rule, a student-athlete with a 1.800 GPA in his or her major area of study would be ineligible for competition, regardless of his or her overall GPA, if that student-athlete was required to have a 2.000 in his or her major to graduate.

• Noted that the coaches certification examination was being modified to increase the number of questions directly relating to the rules. While the exam will continue to have a number of "situational" questions, the number of that type of question will be reduced. Also, the group was advised that future exams may include more questions on Bylaw 14. Previously, the test has focused on Bylaw 13. Other improvements to the exam will enable users to print the responses so they can see which questions they missed (and why the responses were wrong), to make it easier to distinguish which questions pertain to new legislation and to view a question-and-answer document that will address technical issues.

• Heard an update on SAT and ACT writing components. The committee was reassured that the new features will not change overall SAT and ACT scores. The committee will continue to monitor the situation.

• Agreed to sponsor legislation that ACT state tests that are not conducted on national test dates will be acceptable for determining initial eligibility, effective August 1, 2006. The committee was satisfied that such tests, currently conducted in Colorado and Illinois, are run in the same manner as tests conducted on national dates. Division I is considering similar legislation.

• Agreed to be part of a task force that will work to make certain that academically oriented strategic-planning goals are met. The task force also will include representatives from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association, the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators and various coaches associations. The group will be responsible for identifying best practices and educating the membership on major initiatives. Steve Rackley, a member of the Academic Requirements Committee and faculty athletics representative at the University of Findlay, will chair the task force.