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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Council urges more membership study information
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By Jack Copeland
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
The Division III Presidents Council, meeting April 26 in Indianapolis, encouraged distribution of more information to Division III members about why the NCAA is conducting a study of the Association’s membership structure.
The presidents supported a plan to compile a question-and-answer document addressing reasons for the study — including why the Executive Committee asked an Association-wide working group conducting the study to suggest models for the possible creation of a Division IV or subdivision of Division III.
The Executive Committee formed the working group to study ways of managing the future growth of the Association and to consider various division-specific issues — including membership growth in Division III as well as issues in Divisions I and II — that have an Association-wide impact.
That group conducted its first meeting April 25.
A Division III working group — formed to advise the division’s five representatives on the Association-wide working group and to also advise the Division III governance structure as the study progresses — suggested a need for a document to address questions raised during recent months about reasons for the study. The document will be much like Q&As that address questions about legislation proposed for the annual Convention.
Other materials also are expected to be produced soon for the membership, including a “white paper” describing Association-wide and Division III membership issues in detail.
Presidents Council members said conversations they’ve had during recent months with others in the Division III membership indicate a need for more information about the study — including information about other divisions’ involvement in the study and a discussion of criteria or concepts that might be considered in creating a new division or subdivision.
Budget actions
The Council also approved several budgetary recommendations during its spring meeting, including a recommendation to allocate $160,000 to the Student-Athlete Leadership Conference from a previously approved $400,000 increase in funding for Tier II of the Strategic Initiatives Grant Program.
As a result, the leadership conference will receive its first funding increase since its inception in 2002, using funds that already were earmarked for student-athlete well-being. The Council also approved an annual 3 percent inflationary adjustment in funding for the conference to further ensure adequate support for expenses related to increased attendance.
The remainder of the additional $400,000 in grant-program funding will be split between Tiers I and II of the program. Tier I will receive an additional $85,000 to help offset institutions’ costs resulting from the adoption of 2007 Convention Proposal No. 10 — specifically, its requirement to attend the Regional Rules Seminar and Convention. Tier II will be allocated an additional $155,000 to increase funding for initiatives that directly support student-athlete well-being.
The Division III governance staff estimates the membership will receive additional funding averaging $5,500 per conference during 2007-08 as a result of the Council’s approval of additional Tier I and Tier II support, bringing the total grant program allocation to $1.7 million.
In another budget action, the Council authorized $40,000 for a Division III research fellowship during 2007-08, primarily to support the study of issues related to membership growth but also to help implement new legislation to require full compliance with all of the division’s regulations before the first year of provisional or reclassifying membership and to step up monitoring of current members’ compliance with membership requirements.
The Council also authorized $10,000 for a contractor to run programs to implement the new legislation.
Also, Council members approved joining with Division II to fund a position on the NCAA research staff dedicated to overseeing research and policy analysis exclusively for the two divisions.
Drug education/testing
The Council also received a status report on implementation of the two-year pilot drug education and testing program it approved last fall.
The program, which begins this fall, will involve 115 Division III institutions that have agreed to participate in the effort to evaluate the deterrent effect of a comprehensive drug education and testing program on the use of performance-enhancing and street drugs.
All of the participating institutions will be required to implement a model education program targeting student-athletes. Many, though not all, of the schools also will experience random selection of student-athletes for drug testing sometime during the academic year.
About 46,000 Division III student-athletes will be involved in the pilot program.
The purpose of the pilot is to measure, through assessment before the program begins and again at the end, whether education — with or without testing — can reduce substance use.
April 26/Indianapolis
The presidents supported a plan to compile a question-and-answer document addressing reasons for the study — including why the Executive Committee asked an Association-wide working group conducting the study to suggest models for the possible creation of a Division IV or subdivision of Division III.
The Executive Committee formed the working group to study ways of managing the future growth of the Association and to consider various division-specific issues — including membership growth in Division III as well as issues in Divisions I and II — that have an Association-wide impact.
That group conducted its first meeting April 25.
A Division III working group — formed to advise the division’s five representatives on the Association-wide working group and to also advise the Division III governance structure as the study progresses — suggested a need for a document to address questions raised during recent months about reasons for the study. The document will be much like Q&As that address questions about legislation proposed for the annual Convention.
Other materials also are expected to be produced soon for the membership, including a “white paper” describing Association-wide and Division III membership issues in detail.
Presidents Council members said conversations they’ve had during recent months with others in the Division III membership indicate a need for more information about the study — including information about other divisions’ involvement in the study and a discussion of criteria or concepts that might be considered in creating a new division or subdivision.
Budget actions
The Council also approved several budgetary recommendations during its spring meeting, including a recommendation to allocate $160,000 to the Student-Athlete Leadership Conference from a previously approved $400,000 increase in funding for Tier II of the Strategic Initiatives Grant Program.
As a result, the leadership conference will receive its first funding increase since its inception in 2002, using funds that already were earmarked for student-athlete well-being. The Council also approved an annual 3 percent inflationary adjustment in funding for the conference to further ensure adequate support for expenses related to increased attendance.
The remainder of the additional $400,000 in grant-program funding will be split between Tiers I and II of the program. Tier I will receive an additional $85,000 to help offset institutions’ costs resulting from the adoption of 2007 Convention Proposal No. 10 — specifically, its requirement to attend the Regional Rules Seminar and Convention. Tier II will be allocated an additional $155,000 to increase funding for initiatives that directly support student-athlete well-being.
The Division III governance staff estimates the membership will receive additional funding averaging $5,500 per conference during 2007-08 as a result of the Council’s approval of additional Tier I and Tier II support, bringing the total grant program allocation to $1.7 million.
In another budget action, the Council authorized $40,000 for a Division III research fellowship during 2007-08, primarily to support the study of issues related to membership growth but also to help implement new legislation to require full compliance with all of the division’s regulations before the first year of provisional or reclassifying membership and to step up monitoring of current members’ compliance with membership requirements.
The Council also authorized $10,000 for a contractor to run programs to implement the new legislation.
Also, Council members approved joining with Division II to fund a position on the NCAA research staff dedicated to overseeing research and policy analysis exclusively for the two divisions.
Drug education/testing
The Council also received a status report on implementation of the two-year pilot drug education and testing program it approved last fall.
The program, which begins this fall, will involve 115 Division III institutions that have agreed to participate in the effort to evaluate the deterrent effect of a comprehensive drug education and testing program on the use of performance-enhancing and street drugs.
All of the participating institutions will be required to implement a model education program targeting student-athletes. Many, though not all, of the schools also will experience random selection of student-athletes for drug testing sometime during the academic year.
About 46,000 Division III student-athletes will be involved in the pilot program.
The purpose of the pilot is to measure, through assessment before the program begins and again at the end, whether education — with or without testing — can reduce substance use.
Other highlights
Division III Presidents CouncilApril 26/Indianapolis
- Agreed to sponsor a proposal at the 2008 Convention dealing with employment of institutional personnel and prospective student-athletes at sports camps and clinics. The proposal would allow institutional staff members to be employed at privately owned camps and clinics where prospects also are employed. It also will allow prospects to be employed at institutional camps and clinics.
- Did not sponsor a proposal to permit waivers when a coach’s or administrator’s documented misunderstanding of season-of-participation legislation results in a student-athlete losing a season of participation as a result of specific situations, including limited participation in practice or in an alumni contest, exhibition contests, scrimmage or nontraditional-season contest.
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