The Division II Presidents Council wants to make the most of the momentum that was generated at the Division II Chancellors and Presidents Summit earlier this summer.

As part of its annual summer meeting, conducted August 4 in Indianapolis, the Council (along with four former Presidents Council members) discussed how to follow up on themes identified at the June 24-26 summit, which attracted CEOs from 140 Division II institutions.

The presidents identified a four-part plan:

* The division will seek to more effectively publicize its attributes through means that include expanded use of television.

* More efforts will be made to develop pride and self-respect among Division II members.

* More research will be conducted to guide the staff and other interested parties on how to build a stronger Division II image among the membership and public.

* The division will commit to strengthening the link between the athletics programs of its member institutions and their communities.

The presidents also strongly supported the "Bring Your 'A' Game/Balance" graphics theme that was used for the June 24-26 summit (see "To Be II or Not To Be II" in the July 4 issue of The NCAA News), going so far as to approve a statement endorsing the use of the balance thematic in the branding of Division II.

However, the presidents may have been most energized by the concept of rejuvenating relationships with their communities.

Jessica Kozloff, a former Council member and president of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, applauded the presentation of media researcher Rich Luker, who advised Division II presidents attending the summit to worry less about television and more about building links to their communities.

"For example, maybe we can work with Little League programs," Kozloff said. "Or maybe sports camps? Perhaps we should be providing more tickets for free admission. Maybe we need to be looking at some sort of partnership between the NCAA and our institutions to build these relationships.

"However we do it, I believe that Division II schools can find a real niche by working with their communities."

Charles Ambrose, president of Pfeiffer University, echoed the sentiment.

"I was most taken by Rich Luker's presentation," Ambrose said. "We need to brand to the element that he was describing. We have a much better opportunity in that regard than a school with a 106,000-seat football stadium."

Council Chair Kathryn A. Martin, chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth, said the Council will communicate follow-up information to Division II CEOs within the month. A research plan will be developed soon and probably discussed at the Presidents Council's October meeting. Efforts will be made to find at least two hours at the January Convention during which presidents from throughout Division II will be able to address measures to strengthen the division.

A second follow-up to the summit involved a discussion of what additional financial research might be necessary.

At the summit in June, Competition Policy Associates provided research about Division II athletics finances and about the costs that institutions experience when they reclassify to Division I.

"The presidents seemed to agree that there is no need for additional financial comparative analysis about the impact on institutions' finances when they move from Division II," said Division II Vice-President Mike Racy.

"But while they may need no additional information about leaving Division II, many members appear to need data that would highlight the institutional value of intercollegiate athletics. I believe this information is especially important to enrollment-driven private institutions. I hope we have a lot of data that is already available to analyze, but I believe the door is still open for an independent review and analysis that would fit with Division II's commitment to identifying best practices."

Other business

In other business at its August 4 meeting, the Presidents Council took the unusual step of asking the Executive Committee to prohibit Division III from acting unilaterally on a membership issue.

The North Coast Athletic Conference has proposed capping Division III membership at the current level. While the Division III governance structure has neither supported nor opposed the concept, the Division II Presidents Council acted in the belief that such matters are inherently Association-wide.

While two membership moratoriums have been enacted in recent years, the Council noted that both were for defined periods and for specific purposes.

Also, in the late 1990s, some Division II members favored admitting institutions from Canada. Rather than permitting the division to vote on it unilaterally, the Division II Presidents Council referred the matter to the Executive Committee in the belief that the issue had Association-wide ramifications. The presidents similarly believe that the ramifications of the current Division III proposal could extend beyond Division III.

With regard to Division II legislation, the presidents agreed to support a change to the one-time transfer exception recommended in July by the Division II Management Council. The new proposal, which will be considered at the January Convention, would specify that a student-athlete who has not graduated and has one season of competition (or two full-time semesters or three full-time quarters) remaining must have completed an average of 12 hours of transferrable degree credit acceptable toward any baccalaureate program for each term of full-time attendance at any collegiate institution, with a minimum grade-point average of 2.000. The proposal originally would have required the hours to apply to a specific designated degree.

The Council also supported a proposal that would permit an institution (or a third party acting on behalf of the institution) to publish nonathletics institutional advertisements in nonathletics high-school publications and other nonathletics publications. The Council had tabled the proposal at its April meeting.

Also, the Council agreed to withdraw its sponsorship of a proposal that would permit sport-specific coaching staff members who are assigned strength and conditioning responsibilities for their teams to monitor voluntary individual workouts for safety purposes without such supervision being considered a countable athletically related activity.

Senior woman administrators

In another action, the Council used its authority to adopt emergency legislation to amend legislation pertaining to the senior woman administrator (Constitution 4.02.4). It was the first time the Presidents Council has used its authority to adopt emergency legislation.

The action was requested by the Executive Committee's subcommittee on gender and diversity issues because of concerns about whether the SWA position could be perceived as a job classification. The new definition of an SWA is: "An institutional senior woman administrator is the highest-ranking female involved with the management of a member institution's intercollegiate athletics program."

The presidents noted that the action was not a step backward for Division II SWAs but rather a way to simplify the definition for all three divisions. The Council also supported an educational effort about the designation and role of the SWA (see The NCAA News Centerpiece).

Other highlights

Division II Presidents Council

August 4/Indianapolis

• Received reports on possible changes to NCAA alcohol policies; changes to policies involving American Indian mascots; and possible changes to the make-up and frequency of meetings for NCAA committees. See the
  story on the Executive Committee's August 4 meeting (page 1) for more information.

• Was advised that the Executive Committee now recommends against requiring binding arbitration in legal disputes between the Association and its members.

• Ratified the election of Gloria Friedman, senior woman administrator at California State University, Bakersfield, as the California Collegiate Athletic Conference's Management Council representative.

• Noted that the Division II Budget and Finance Committee voted to change the distribution for the Division II enhancement fund beginning in 2005-06 so that each conference would receive a flat base rate for the required funds and the balance of the required funds and all of the permissive funds would be prorated based on the number of institutions in each conference. The modification in distribution does not significantly lower funding for conferences with smaller numbers of members, but it does direct more funding to conferences with a larger number of members. The committee met August 3.

• Approved a document describing the model Division II athletics program.