* Noting the NCAA Centennial theme, “Celebrating the Student-Athlete,” Division III delegates took time at the beginning of the January 9 business session to applaud the more than 150,000 student-athletes competing at the division’s member institutions.

Highlights of the tribute included an 11-minute video presentation that — through interviews with and profiles of current student-athletes and renowned alumni of Division III institutions — demonstrated how the division’s emphasis on athletics within an educational setting shapes participants’ lives.

Segments of the video described Division III student-athletes as committed, prepared, winners, dedicated and champions.

Two representatives of the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee also participated in the celebration. Sameer Khan, a golf student-athlete at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham, and Division III SAAC chair, discussed the role of student-athletes away from playing fields and courts.

“Student-athletes increasingly are present and active in other arenas, too — not only in NCAA governance through the national SAAC’s participation in today’s proceedings — but increasingly through conference- and campus-based SAACs, as well as Division III’s Student-Athlete Leadership Conferences,” he said.

“More important, Division III student-athletes are visible — and have the greatest, most-lasting impact — on our campuses and communities. There, we take pride in serving as role models, as leaders among our fellow students, and as active participants in making the cities and towns where we study and compete better places to live.”

Heather Mathis, a soccer student-athlete at Maryville College (Tennessee) and a SAAC representative on the Division III Management Council, noted that many student-athletes of the past are today’s athletics administrators and coaches — “or more accurately, the educators” — and suggested that some of today’s student-athletes will assume those roles in the future.

To make the point, she asked delegates who are former student-athletes to hold up their hands — and the majority did so.

* The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee again saw the impact it can have in the governance process — and not just in Convention voting, as Khan and his fellow committee members encountered an attentive audience during a breakfast meeting with the Division III Presidents and Management Councils January 7.

Entering the meeting, the Presidents Council appeared set to sponsor an amendment-to-amendment to Proposal No. 2, which sought to permit coaches to provide private lessons to a prospect, with institutional oversight. The Council wanted to limit the opportunity to golf and tennis coaches.

Ultimately, the presidents decided that if any coaches are permitted to provide lessons, all should be provided the opportunity — and SAAC members were instrumental in persuading the presidents on that point.

“We showed them the student-athlete point of view,” Khan said. “That was a big success for us. It let us know that the student-athlete voice is heard and the process is working. That is what we preach at our leadership conferences. The system is there.”

Division III delegates approved Proposal No. 2 — without the amendment — by a 313-85 vote (with six abstentions) January 9.

* The estimated annual cost of the pilot drug-testing program that the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) is asking Division III to consider conducting is $400,000, according to a report the Division III Management Council received during its January 6 meeting.

The committee, after viewing data from the latest NCAA Study of Substance Abuse Habits of College Student-Athletes, is considering whether to recommend year-round testing in the division.

Division III previously has opted to devote resources to educational efforts rather than year-round testing, largely due to philosophical concerns about treating student-athletes differently on campus from other students who are not subject to testing. However, with year-round testing now well-established in Divisions I and II, concerns recently have been raised that Division III student-athletes are not receiving what might be considered benefits of testing: support for student-athlete well-being and greater assurances of fair competition.

Because a year-round program, operated under the same criteria currently used in Division II, would cost an estimated $1.3 million annually, CSMAS suggested the pilot program as a means of evaluating whether a year-round program is suitable for Division III.

The Council agreed to request further information about the pilot program for discussion at its April meeting, and also requested division-specific data to shed more light on the issue. Also, noting that the Division III budget for the next two years will be established during the next few months, the Council agreed to list drug testing as a potential line item.

* The National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators honored three institutions during the Convention for student-athletes’ community-service projects.

Defiance College, La Grange College and Transylvania University received the NADIIIAA/Jostens Community Service Awards. Defiance student-athletes were honored in the category of one-time project or activity, La Grange was recognized for an array of projects or activities, and Transylvania was honored for an ongoing project or activity.

Eight other institutions were honored with awards of merit, and one institution and one conference received honorable mention.

The awards recognized projects and activities during the 2004-05 academic year.