For the third consecutive year, Division I delegates will participate in override voting during the Division I Legislative Forum. The membership will have the opportunity to provide the final word on three proposals, one modifying the financial aid regulations for baseball student-athletes, another eliminating text messaging and other forms of electronic communication with recruits and a third that changed dates-of-competition rules for men’s and women’s golf.

The Board of Directors reaffirmed its position on all three proposals in response to the membership's override request, though the baseball measure went through some revision. The revised version, requiring at least 25 percent of a baseball student-athlete’s financial aid package to be athletics aid, will be voted on at Convention. All countable aid — not just athletics aid — can be included in the calculation toward the minimum.

The original proposal required a 33 percent minimum of athletics aid (without including all countable aid) and was adopted from the Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group recommendations. The proposal retains the financial aid model of 11.7 equivalencies and limits counters to 30 in 2008-09 and 27 in 2009-10 and thereafter and caps the regular-season squad size at 35.

The Board cited the legislation as an important piece of the package adopted from the working group. The other measures the Board adopted eliminate the one-time transfer exception for baseball student-athletes and require them to be eligible in the fall term for participation in the spring.

Those who oppose the financial aid component believe among other things that while the academic success of baseball student-athletes is important, the minimum financial aid requirement would be a strain on lower-resource institutions and institutions with a high cost of attendance, most often private institutions. Some claimed decreasing the pool of student-athletes in the cohort could actually hurt academic performance as measured by the Academic Progress Rate and that the limitations were “arbitrary” and “micromanagement.”

Delegates also will consider the elimination of text messaging and other forms of electronic communication between coaches and recruits. While the requisite number of override requests was received to call for the Board to reconsider its approval of the measure, not enough requests were received to suspend the legislation, which took effect August 1.

Schools requesting an override of Proposal No. 06-40, which requires all electronic communication with prospective student-athletes to be conducted via e-mail or fax only, believe that forms of communication like text messaging are popular among recruits and a cost-effective method of communication for coaches.

However, many schools support restrictions on the practice. Two proposals in the 2007-08 legislative cycle would expand the use of electronic communication with recruits, one allowing instant messaging and one allowing unlimited electronic correspondence after a prospect signed a National Letter of Intent or other written commitment. Neither proposal fully addresses all of the concerns raised by those who wish to override the proposal eliminating electronic communication altogether.

Finally, the men’s and women’s golf legislation changes the dates-of-competition rules by providing the option of nine three-day tournaments or 24 dates of competition.

The legislation is aimed at improving student-athlete well-being, tournament administration and budgetary issues and changes the dates-of-competition rule by providing the option of nine three-day tournaments (with 54 holes per tournament) or 24 dates of competition. Since the dates of competition in golf were reduced from 30 to 24, many three-day tournaments became two-day events, though the number of holes (54) remained the same.

Proponents argue that because golf courses prefer to schedule tournaments during the week, more class time is missed in 12 two-day tournaments than nine three-day tournaments. Travel expenses also would be higher.

Some requesting the override believe the change could create inequities because some schools would be unable to schedule nine three-day tournaments or afford to host them. Opponents also believe the changes would not reduce missed class time for student-athletes.

The votes will be taken at the Division I business session, which will begin after the Division I Legislative Forum, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on January 13. The business session is expected to begin at 2 p.m. Delegates, including members of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee who do not vote on the override, will have the opportunity to speak to the proposals at that time. For a successful override, a five-eighths majority of those Division I delegates present and voting must cast votes to overturn the legislation.

Division I delegates have voted on overrides during Convention for three consecutive years. In 2006, the members voted on scholarship expansion in several women’s sports, deciding to expand opportunities in women’s soccer but keeping grant maximums in women’s gymnastics, volleyball and track and field.

At the 2007 Convention, delegates overturned a rule that would allow graduate student-athletes who want to transfer to a new institution to compete immediately. They also upheld a Board defeat of a proposal that would have added a 12th game in the Football Championship Subdivision.

The 2006 vote was the first override vote since Division I restructured in 1997. The votes have increased Division I attendance at the Convention for Division I members. As of December 6, 573 Division I delegates had registered, the highest figure in recent memory.

The Division I governance structure will be reorganized over the next eight months. However, the legislative cycle, including the override process, will not be changed.