* Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members in their annual breakfast with the Board of Directors discussed medical-expense legislation with the presidents. The student-athletes made it clear that of the two related proposals that have been sent for comment — Nos. 05-101 and 102 — they support only the latter. SAAC members believe No. 05-101, which would allow schools to buy medical insurance policies that cover expenses for any student-athlete injury or illness, detracts from current legislation the SAAC fought hard to enact two years ago.

The student-athletes and presidents also exchanged views on the override vote and the future of exploring increased opportunities for women’s sports. SAAC members explained the difficulty they had reconciling a position on the proposal to increase scholarship limits in four women’s sports, a position that in fact changed from full support to divided support over the last several months.

Outgoing SAAC Chair Ian Gray in fact said the matter was complicated by members trying to balance a committee position with their own. Gray himself believes increased opportunities, even if they provide more of an immediate benefit to larger programs than smaller schools, would quickly have a “trickle-down” benefit. More scholarship opportunities, he said, would prompt growth at the grass-roots level, thus increasing the overall talent pool over time that would help ease the competitive-equity concerns that seemed to be the crux of the override vote.

* The Division I SAAC also engaged the Management Council during a January 8 luncheon in a discussion about strengthening the lines of communication among conference and institutional SAACs and each league’s executive committee, especially during meetings at which conferences determine their positions on proposals that affect student-athlete well-being.

* Among proposals the Board of Directors adopted at its January 9 meeting included one stipulating that the latest a Division I-A postseason bowl game can be played is the second Monday in January — in effect, January 14. That calendar change coincidentally dovetails with plans to adjust future dates for the Convention to the Wednesday-Saturday before Martin Luther King Day beginning in 2009.

The legislative change also accommodates the Bowl Championship Series “plus one” model set to begin in 2007 and the adjusted Convention dates allow Division I members to attend both the BCS final and the annual meeting under that format.

* The Division I-AA Governance Committee supported and sent out for membership comment a proposal to add a 12th regular-season game. Division I-A approved the measure last year, effective for the 2006 season.

* The Management Council’s governance subcommittee is recommending that the Council not conduct its July 2006 meeting in light of an Association-wide initiative to streamline the committee meeting structure in future years. The subcommittee did not recommend any action beyond the 2006 meeting cycle.

* The SAAC elected University of Arizona basketball student-athlete Anna Chappell as vice chair. Former vice chair Mike Piscetelli of Wake Forest University succeeds Gray as chair.