The Division II Championships Committee changed selection criteria for provisional and reclassifying members during its June meeting in San Diego.

The previous policies were more restrictive and in some cases discouraged active members from scheduling contests against reclassifying and provisional members.

Effective immediately, provisional members will be treated as active members for selection-criteria purposes during the third and fourth years of their provisional-membership process. Also, during its second year of provisional membership, an institution will be able to petition a sports committee to be considered as an active member for scheduling purposes, provided it proves compliance with all scheduling requirements. Under no circumstances, however, will provisional members be eligible to compete in championships.

NCAA member institutions reclassifying into Division II will be treated as active members for selection purposes during the second year of their reclassification process. During the first year, an institution can petition the sports committee to be considered as an active member for selection purposes if it proves compliance with all scheduling requirements. As with provisional members, reclassifying members will not be eligible to compete in any Division II championships.

The Championship Committee also agreed to establish a strategic planning fund (championships funds remaining from the previous year) -- $50,000 for the remainder of this year and $500,000 for the next two years -- to enable the committee to fund initiatives consistent with the Division II strategic plan. The concept is intended to eliminate extra approval steps for initiatives that are clearly within the plan.

The Championships Committee likely will direct most of the $50,000 for the current fiscal year at creating Division II stencils and decals for Division II championships for 2005-06. With more Division II championships appearing on national television, the committee wants to make clear for viewers that they are watching NCAA Division II championships events. Current sports-specific logos do not always make that fact clear.

In other business, the Championships Committee:

• Discussed the work of the Regionalization Task Force (see the June 20 issue of The NCAA News). The committee made general recommendations that will be discussed at the July 18-19 meeting of the Division II Management Council.

• Reviewed plans for the 2006 Division II Fall National Championships Festival in Pensacola, Florida. (The Pensacola area subsequently was hit by Hurricane Dennis, the second major hurricane to hit the area in the last year. At press time, no assessment was available on what effects the storm may have on the festival.) The committee also agreed to determine the site for the 2008 spring festival at its September meeting.

• Supported a recommendation from the Division II Football Committee that, effective with the 2006-07 season, teams must have competed in 10 regular-season games to be eligible for the Division II Football Championship.

• Increased the number of student-athletes included in travel parties for the football and women's volleyball championships. The number of football student-athletes in the 70-person travel party was increased from 52 to 54; the number of student-athletes in the 20-person women's volleyball travel party was increased from 14 to 15.