It’s one of the chief products of the now-concluded Future of Division III-Phase II initiative, but delegates attending the 2006 Convention in ?> Indianapolis weren’t fully able to appreciate it until they returned home and popped a CD-ROM into a computer.?>

There, they found a “best practices” compilation of policies, procedures and other materials that members of the Future of Division III-Phase II Oversight Group hope will help institutions seeking to improve their own efforts in three areas:

* Academic success of student-athletes.

* Integration of athletics into campus life.

* Sport and program equity.

The compilation represents the Oversight Group’s efforts to produce something besides legislation to help institutions administer athletics programs consistently with Division III philosophy.

Member institutions and conferences responded to a call last year to submit materials they use to guide their own practices. That request produced 98 examples of best practices, ranging from handbooks to policy statements to descriptions of programs.

About one-third of the submitted materials were selected for inclusion on the CD-ROM, and those materials also are accessible through the NCAA Web site.

One highlight of the package is the recently completed Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Manual, which in addition to detailing policies of the national SAAC provides a model for establishing conference and institutional panels.

Other materials are wide-ranging in scope:

* The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference provided a flyer promoting its fan sportsmanship initiative.

* Alvernia College contributed academic, equipment and team travel policies.

* The American Southwest Conference and Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, as well as Central College (Iowa), share the title page and/or introductory sections of policy manuals, suggesting a wide range of topics for other leagues’ and institutions’ documents. The WIAC also contributed its sportsmanship and ethical conduct policies.

* Four institutions — Augsburg College, Drew University, Marywood College and State University of New York at Oswego — offer their student-athlete handbooks/policy manual/orientation guide. Augsburg also presents its alcohol and drug policy; Drew contributes academic-assessment guidelines, a statement of ethical recruiting policies and a team uniform rotation budget; and Marywood adds a coaches’ handbook.

* Babson College shares its mission statement and code of conduct.

* The Empire 8 provides game-management policies; the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association contributes its conference playoff funding policy; the Northwest Conference describes a “host hotels” program; and the Ohio Athletic Conference shares its “Recruiting Do’s and Don’ts” handbook and information about its all-sports awards program.

* Approaches to integrating student-athletes into campus and cultural life are the focus of a document from Franklin & Marshall College.

* Wheaton College (Illinois) shares its series of golf “mini-tour” fund-raisers around the country.

The CD-ROM marks just a start, rather than the end, of the compilation of best practices. For now, other materials can be submitted through the NCAA Web site at www2.ncaa.org/legislation_and_governance/committees/division3.html.

The materials also shouldn’t be perceived as the best — or only — ways to operate an institutional athletics program.

“It is an information process,” Division III Management Council Chair Michael Miranda told attendees at the January 8 Division III forum in Indianapolis, where the CD-ROMs were given to attendees. “It’s not necessarily a recommendation of how to do things.”

Ultimately, the Oversight Group expects other organizations — such as the College Sports Project, National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators, Faculty Athletics Representatives Association and Division III Commissioners Association — will assume responsibility for the compilation and promotion of best practices.