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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Five institutions approved for Division II membership
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The Division II Membership Committee has approved moving five institutions from provisional to active status beginning September 1. Those schools are:
California State University, Monterey Bay
Chowan University
University of Mary
North Georgia College & State University
Palm Beach Atlantic College
The University of Mary’s active status is conditional based on completion of a compliance review by June 1, 2008.
The committee also at its June 26-28 meeting in Portland, Oregon, moved 12 institutions into provisional Division II membership. They are:
Brevard College
Central State University
Chestnut Hill College
Claflin University
Dixie State College of Utah
Flagler College
Georgia Southwestern State University
Newman University
Notre Dame de Namur University
Seton Hill University
Texas A&M International University
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
In addition, Lake Erie College was moved to a second exploratory year and could become a provisional member next year.
The committee made its decisions after reviewing annual reports from each institution on its progress in meeting Division II membership benchmarks. Committee Chair Jim Johnson said members were impressed by the quantity and quality of information in those reports.
“It was perhaps the best collectively the committee had seen over the past several years,” he said.
Johnson, commissioner of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, attributed the successful reports in part to a new format that allows institutions to be more subjective about their program’s readiness to be a Division II member. He said institutions now have the opportunity to tell the committee about their program — from rules compliance, facilities and personnel to strategic planning and community engagement.
“It’s more now than just counting contests and equivalencies and whether schools have an SWA and an FAR,” Johnson said. “We still get the raw information we need — but now we can really evaluate a school’s readiness to be a good Division II program, measured by the Division II philosophy statement, the strategic-positioning platform and the community-engagement initiative.”
In addition to decisions regarding active and provisional membership, the committee facilitated the following institutions beginning their exploratory period into Division II membership:
University of Arkansas, Fort Smith
Briarcliffe College (New York)
King College (Tennessee)
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
St. Thomas University (Florida)
University of Illinois at Springfield
Urbana University (Ohio)
Those schools will operate under the new membership procedures adopted at the 2007 Convention that establish a one- or two-year exploratory period, followed by as little as one year of provisional status. That differs significantly from previous procedures that required an exploratory year and a progression through four years of provisional membership.
Many of the schools the committee considered at this meeting in fact had applied for membership under the old procedures. To help clarify the transition period between the old process and the new — and to reward institutions that had worked hard to comply with Division II standards — Johnson said the committee decided to move everyone to the new membership model.
“Starting now, every school — whether they started under the new process or the old — will be classified using terms from the new process,” he said.
That includes the 12 institutions moved into provisional status at this meeting. Regardless of where they were in their progression under the old model, Johnson said it was fair to move them to the end of the new model, “seeing how they had already put in a few years under the old system and most of them were in fantastic shape with regards to their annual reports.”
“In other words,” Johnson said, “we decided to take every one of these schools — none of which was struggling — and plug them into the new process as a provisional member as is set forth in the new process. We didn’t want to label them as year one, two or three — just as provisionals. However long they want to stay there is up to them.”
The committee’s decisions boost total membership to 286 active members (effective September 1, 2007), 12 provisional members and seven exploratory members.
June 26-28/Portland, Oregon
California State University, Monterey Bay
Chowan University
University of Mary
North Georgia College & State University
Palm Beach Atlantic College
The University of Mary’s active status is conditional based on completion of a compliance review by June 1, 2008.
The committee also at its June 26-28 meeting in Portland, Oregon, moved 12 institutions into provisional Division II membership. They are:
Brevard College
Central State University
Chestnut Hill College
Claflin University
Dixie State College of Utah
Flagler College
Georgia Southwestern State University
Newman University
Notre Dame de Namur University
Seton Hill University
Texas A&M International University
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
In addition, Lake Erie College was moved to a second exploratory year and could become a provisional member next year.
The committee made its decisions after reviewing annual reports from each institution on its progress in meeting Division II membership benchmarks. Committee Chair Jim Johnson said members were impressed by the quantity and quality of information in those reports.
“It was perhaps the best collectively the committee had seen over the past several years,” he said.
Johnson, commissioner of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, attributed the successful reports in part to a new format that allows institutions to be more subjective about their program’s readiness to be a Division II member. He said institutions now have the opportunity to tell the committee about their program — from rules compliance, facilities and personnel to strategic planning and community engagement.
“It’s more now than just counting contests and equivalencies and whether schools have an SWA and an FAR,” Johnson said. “We still get the raw information we need — but now we can really evaluate a school’s readiness to be a good Division II program, measured by the Division II philosophy statement, the strategic-positioning platform and the community-engagement initiative.”
In addition to decisions regarding active and provisional membership, the committee facilitated the following institutions beginning their exploratory period into Division II membership:
University of Arkansas, Fort Smith
Briarcliffe College (New York)
King College (Tennessee)
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
St. Thomas University (Florida)
University of Illinois at Springfield
Urbana University (Ohio)
Those schools will operate under the new membership procedures adopted at the 2007 Convention that establish a one- or two-year exploratory period, followed by as little as one year of provisional status. That differs significantly from previous procedures that required an exploratory year and a progression through four years of provisional membership.
Many of the schools the committee considered at this meeting in fact had applied for membership under the old procedures. To help clarify the transition period between the old process and the new — and to reward institutions that had worked hard to comply with Division II standards — Johnson said the committee decided to move everyone to the new membership model.
“Starting now, every school — whether they started under the new process or the old — will be classified using terms from the new process,” he said.
That includes the 12 institutions moved into provisional status at this meeting. Regardless of where they were in their progression under the old model, Johnson said it was fair to move them to the end of the new model, “seeing how they had already put in a few years under the old system and most of them were in fantastic shape with regards to their annual reports.”
“In other words,” Johnson said, “we decided to take every one of these schools — none of which was struggling — and plug them into the new process as a provisional member as is set forth in the new process. We didn’t want to label them as year one, two or three — just as provisionals. However long they want to stay there is up to them.”
The committee’s decisions boost total membership to 286 active members (effective September 1, 2007), 12 provisional members and seven exploratory members.
Other highlights
Division II Membership CommitteeJune 26-28/Portland, Oregon
- Heard presentations from five Canadian institutions interested in joining Division II. Division II is the only NCAA division so far with legislation slated for the 2008 Convention that would facilitate membership from Canadian schools. If approved, those institutions could become active Division II members as early as 2011.
- Reviewed requests for proposals from vendors interested in restructuring the Division II Institutional Self-Study Guide. The committee agreed that the selected vendor should focus on the following items in updating the ISSG: Division II compliance audit guide, life-skills programming, the Division II strategic-positioning platform and the Division II community-engagement effort.
- Approved a request from Division II Philadelphia University to reclassify its men’s soccer program from Division I to Division II, effective August 1, 2008. If the institution successfully completes the two-year reclassifying process, the men’s soccer program will be an active Division II program during the 2010-11 academic year.
- Recommended noncontroversial legislation allowing the committee to waive any provisions regarding the new membership process. The proposal also gives the committee the authority to individually assess an institution’s readiness for active Division II membership as it progresses through the membership process, and the authority to accelerate active membership and waive conditions for schools that are ready to return to Division II membership.
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