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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Proposal No. 5 approval - Serious about being different
Action clears barriers to help Division II institutions build relationships with their communities
Action clears barriers to help Division II institutions build relationships with their communities
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By Gary Tw. Brown
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
ORLANDO, Florida — Division II delegates prepped for passing Proposal No. 5 during an issues forum the day before the business session in which they discussed the value of community engagement in relation to the division’s strategic-positioning initiative.
Presidents Council Chair Charles Ambrose, Management Council Chair Jill Willson and consultant Rich Luker told forum participants how to activate the platform to engage the communities in which Division II campuses are located. Ambrose identified Proposal No. 5 as key to removing the “inhibitors” to community engagement.
“It will require us to trust each other,” he said, referring to the proposal’s lifting of recruiting and student-athlete benefit restrictions during community-engagement activities. “But it proves Division II is serious about being different.”
Luker said the legislation will allow Division II schools “to do what they already do, only better.”
Arkansas Tech University President Bob Brown told an audience of chancellors and presidents in a meeting after the forum that Proposal No. 5 is what will make the strategic-positioning platform “come to life.”
“We know the strengths of our athletics departments are the relationships they foster with our communities,” Brown said. “The legislation is a chance for Division II institutions to connect in a way that we haven’t been able to in the past. It’s at the heart of the strategic-positioning initiative.”
Other presidents agreed, reiterating the Presidents Council support of the measure. “Many of us come from institutions that don’t tell their stories very well, period,” one said. “This focus on athletics will help.”
Participants at both the forum and the presidents session asked how the community-engagement initiative differs from the service activities most athletics departments already do. Service in fact is one of the six attributes identified in the hexagonal imagery surrounding the campaign. Luker, who chairs the Division II Community Advisory Group, said through service, people participate for the purpose of providing benefit to someone else. “But the community-engagement initiative in Division II is about events that build relationships,” Luker said. “That purpose is to benefit both the campus and the community.”
Community engagement is the fun part, Luker said, in which the benefit is people enjoying each other, believing they are a part of the campus on the campus. “It’s their school, their community, their town square,” he said.
Luker cited successful events like “The Taste of Coker” conducted this fall when Coker College and Hartsville, South Carolina, converged for a campus cookout. Coker officials had to be careful about staff and student-athletes interacting with potential prospects — a concern Proposal No. 5 alleviates.
The Coker event and others are among “ideas that work” to be shared on an interactive Web site being developed around the community-engagement initiative.
Presidents Council Chair Charles Ambrose, Management Council Chair Jill Willson and consultant Rich Luker told forum participants how to activate the platform to engage the communities in which Division II campuses are located. Ambrose identified Proposal No. 5 as key to removing the “inhibitors” to community engagement.
“It will require us to trust each other,” he said, referring to the proposal’s lifting of recruiting and student-athlete benefit restrictions during community-engagement activities. “But it proves Division II is serious about being different.”
Luker said the legislation will allow Division II schools “to do what they already do, only better.”
Arkansas Tech University President Bob Brown told an audience of chancellors and presidents in a meeting after the forum that Proposal No. 5 is what will make the strategic-positioning platform “come to life.”
“We know the strengths of our athletics departments are the relationships they foster with our communities,” Brown said. “The legislation is a chance for Division II institutions to connect in a way that we haven’t been able to in the past. It’s at the heart of the strategic-positioning initiative.”
Other presidents agreed, reiterating the Presidents Council support of the measure. “Many of us come from institutions that don’t tell their stories very well, period,” one said. “This focus on athletics will help.”
Participants at both the forum and the presidents session asked how the community-engagement initiative differs from the service activities most athletics departments already do. Service in fact is one of the six attributes identified in the hexagonal imagery surrounding the campaign. Luker, who chairs the Division II Community Advisory Group, said through service, people participate for the purpose of providing benefit to someone else. “But the community-engagement initiative in Division II is about events that build relationships,” Luker said. “That purpose is to benefit both the campus and the community.”
Community engagement is the fun part, Luker said, in which the benefit is people enjoying each other, believing they are a part of the campus on the campus. “It’s their school, their community, their town square,” he said.
Luker cited successful events like “The Taste of Coker” conducted this fall when Coker College and Hartsville, South Carolina, converged for a campus cookout. Coker officials had to be careful about staff and student-athletes interacting with potential prospects — a concern Proposal No. 5 alleviates.
The Coker event and others are among “ideas that work” to be shared on an interactive Web site being developed around the community-engagement initiative.
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