When NCAA President Myles Brand formed the Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee last year, he encouraged the group to be bold in its work to establish the Association’s roadmap to building lasting and sustained diversity and inclusion within the membership.

Since then, the committee has worked steadily toward that goal. At its most recent meeting in Indianapolis October 24-25, the group began polishing the final recommendations it will present to Brand and the rest of the membership at the 2007 NCAA Convention in Orlando.

Throughout, a central challenge the group has faced is how to translate that boldness into workable solutions that fall within the confines of not just NCAA core values and bylaws, but also federal and state laws such as Title IX that dictate what can be said, done or legislated. Further, while issues of diversity and inclusion are not new, questions about just how well the membership grasps the concepts linger, spawning discussion of whether the correct approach should more closely resemble a hammer or a pillow.

"It’s been laid out, at least to us, to approach diversity and inclusion issues in a fairly bold manner," said committee member Percy Bates, faculty athletics representative at the University of Michigan. "We all understand when you approach things that way, you may not end up with the boldest ideas, but you certainly you won’t be where you started, either."

Another committee member, Chris Waters, the faculty athletics representative at University of Redlands, said that a key element in striking the proper balance is facilitating a discussion that emphasizes the positive aspects and benefits of diversity and inclusion, rather than forcing policies on schools.

However the committee chooses to lead the membership to that point, Waters believes that more education on issues and topics related to diversity and inclusion is warranted. "Sometimes when you sit on a lot of NCAA committees, you get a lot of information on these issues and you begin to think everybody in the Association is as educated as you are on the matter. But that’s not always the case."

However, Bates said the call for more education is sometimes used as a delay tactic that implies individuals may not be ready to make the leap.

"For people who want to move faster, it creates a fair amount of frustration, but you have to get over that hump to get people to a point of not saying, ‘let me figure out how not to do this,’ but, ‘let me work with that group to figure out a way to move forward.’ "

Ultimately, Pam Gill-Fisher, committee member and senior associate director of athletics at the University of California, Davis, said individual campuses are in different places regarding diversity and inclusion and, consequently, the committee is attempting to provide a broad palette of options.

"The key is to provide a program that’s going to fit different sizes, but for all of us to have the same goal — which is to foster change on our campuses that will lead to improved diversity and inclusion," she said.

To that end, the committee spent its most recent meeting voting on which of the widely ranging recommendations will be included in the final report. The recommendations were developed through subcommittees focusing on four key areas: fostering the diversity of student-athletes; promoting a climate of inclusion within intercollegiate athletics; enhancing equitable career opportunities for underrepresented coaches, officials and administrators; and strengthening the support, integration and promotion of women’s sports within intercollegiate athletics.

The committee’s work was supported by survey data from 1,100 senior woman administrators, 120 student-athlete leaders and directors of athletics in all divisions.

Though some of the group’s recommendations will be programmatic in nature or call for more research and assessment, some could find their way into the Association’s legislative process if accepted.

Charlotte Westerhaus, committee chair and NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, commended the membership for its support of the committee, and for diversity and inclusion in general.

"The benefits of diversity and inclusion are compelling and evident — infusing diversity and inclusion within universities, departments and teams positively and profoundly enhances an educational environment for learning and achievement on the fields and within the classroom," she said. "I applaud and support the efforts of many of our presidents, athletics administrators and coaches who clearly get it and are doing it."

The final report will be presented January 6 during an Association-wide session at the NCAA Convention. Dennis Cryder, NCAA senior vice president for branding and communications, emphasized that plans for a broader release of the committee’s recommendations to the membership, media and general public also are underway.

"The NCAA is committed to diversity and inclusion. We want to ensure that our membership not only understands what those concepts are, but also is involved in creating and sustaining an environment that reflects that commitment," Cryder said. "To that end, the national office staff is preparing an aggressive multidimensional communication strategy to support the work of this committee and the greater goal of achieving lasting diversity and inclusion."