BALTIMORE — Members of the Faculty Athletic Representatives Association used their annual meeting and symposium to fortify their oversight role in intercollegiate athletics.

FARA, which met November 8-10, developed action plans in all three divisions to accomplish the goal. Among those plans is the support and continued implementation of the academic-reform structure in Division I. FARA members urged the Division I governance structure to stay strong with applying the Academic Progress Rate in the face of possible pushback during the fourth year of the system in which penalties may increase.

Much like the Division I Board of Directors did this summer, FARA members issued a statement of support in that regard, calling for a “stay the course” approach to reform.

FARA President and University of New England faculty member Dennis Leighton said institutions have had sufficient time to understand the APR and prepare for its effect on underperforming teams.

“It is time to fully implement the package,” Leighton said. “And we are supporting the faculty representatives who should take the lead in ensuring the system has the desired outcome of improving student-athlete academic performance.”

Balance also was a theme during the forum, as guest speakers Myles Brand, NCAA president; Georgetown University President Jack DeGioia; and University of the Pacific Vice President Ted Leland all focused on integrating athletics in the educational system.

Brand agreed with FARA’s support of the APR as a way to ensure athletics remains integrated with the institutional mission. He cited the key role faculty play in that regard.

DeGioia urged faculty to be a barometer for that institutional mission — to understand the campus community and decide how athletics fits the culture of the institution. For example, he said, even if enough private donations were accrued to elevate Georgetown’s football program to the Bowl Subdivision level, it wouldn’t fit the athletics model at the institution.

That individual athletics culture message resonated with FARA members. Leighton in fact said that’s why it’s hard to legislate a cookie-cutter approach to the FAR role. “We always say you can’t, because it is so individual with what goes on at each institution,” he said. “It’s a matter of knowing your institution, and knowing what you can do to be most beneficial to student-athletes.”

Leland addressed what he called the “education/development model” and the “high-performance model.”

The first relies on the coach as a facilitator of the student-athlete’s educational goals, with winning and money taking a back seat. The latter is the opposite, with winning and revenue generation being of primary concern.

Leland said the high-performance model employed by many institutions often leads to faculty feeling disengaged from athletics. A recent Knight Commission survey of a small sample of Division I faculty showed faculty members are generally dissatisfied with their current campus athletics governance roles.

To re-engage, Leland said there is strength in numbers. He suggested that FARs extend their outreach to other members of the faculty who support athletics to build momentum for the integration concept.

FARA members noted other best practices in that regard, such as encouraging student-athletes to invite professors to their games, or perhaps even introduce a faculty member who influenced their educational path.

“Contrary to the perception, more faculty at institutions believe in the benefits of athletics than those who don’t,” Leighton said. “The problem is that few people say negative things and the perception builds that faculty in general are against athletics. That’s just not true.”

Leighton said it is important for the faculty who believe in the value of athletics to spread the word to others who aren’t sure or who are uninformed.
FARA leaders also encourage more FAR participation in the NCAA governance structure, noting that the Knight Commission survey linked such service with a more positive understanding of athletics’ educational value.
Appalachian State University faculty member Alan Hauser, who will succeed Leighton as FARA president this coming year, noted that the impending revised structure in Division I will increase FAR opportunities to serve on committees and councils.

“It would be a shame if there weren’t enough faculty representatives stepping forward to give us good representation,” Hauser said. “Everyone comes with an agenda when serving on these committees. It is important that faculty advance an academic-integrity agenda.”

To facilitate FAR participation in the governance structure, Hauser urged involvement at the conference level.

“That’s where the appointments for NCAA service are made,” said the former Division I Management Council member and chair of the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. “The key is persistence. You have to apply for positions for which you have special skills or areas of expertise.”
Leighton agreed, saying that FARs, unlike any other academic group, have the advantage of being part of the NCAA structure.

“We don’t try to govern in the media,” Leighton said. “We work in the system. We have people who do more for student-athletes in one Management Council meeting than other groups have ever done.”

Other highlights during the FARA symposium included:

NCAA Director of Membership Services Julie Cromer was named the 2007 recipient of the David Knight Award. Cromer is the primary staff liaison for the group. The award was established in 2004 and is named in honor of the longtime FAR at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who died in 2003 after a long illness.

FARA members honored NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship winners Katie Kingsbury-Gritter and Dane Todd.

Gritter is a former tennis student-athlete at Washington & Lee University, where she was a two-time all-conference selection. She currently is pursuing her Ph.D. in the School of Psychology at the University of Connecticut.

Todd was a fullback at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he was a four-year letter-winner for the Cornhuskers and a CoSida/ESPN Academic All-American. He currently is pursuing a medical degree at Emory University.