I hope you agree with me that the past 12 months have been very good for Division II. We conducted an exciting Division II national championships festival last November; we unveiled our new hexagon images corresponding with our six core attributes and the “I Chose Division II” campaign at the national Convention in Orlando in January; and more than 140 chancellors and presidents attended our second summit in San Diego in June.

Our student-athletes raised more than $200,000 in 2007 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation; our membership has helped to build 10 Habitat for Humanity homes at Division II national championships; and CSTV showed more than 150 regular-season Division II games on television and via broadband this year.

Our student-athletes, once again, recorded a 70 percent graduation rate; and we successfully launched an interactive community engagement Web site for Division II members at http://www.diicommunity.org.

These accomplishments can be directly tied to the strategic-positioning platform for Division II. We are demonstrating through our priorities and initiatives that the platform is an accurate statement of our values and attributes. As a reminder, the Division II positioning statement reads:

Life in the Balance. Higher education has lasting importance on an individual’s future success. For this reason, the emphasis for the student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development in a personal setting. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletics competition and development of positive societal attitudes in service to community.

The balance and integration of these different areas of learning opportunity provide Division II student-athletes a path to graduation while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

During the past few months, we have talked about the need to align all of our Division II strategic initiatives and programs with this important positioning statement. We need to continue to ask whether our actions in Division II are consistent with the words we have chosen to help define our membership affiliation and to describe the Division II experience.

Every year at this time, our attention turns to our legislative agenda as we gather at the NCAA Convention and attend our Division II business session. While we only have 21 legislative proposals to consider this year, there are some significant legislative changes that the Presidents Council has agreed to sponsor. Please know that in sponsoring these proposals, the Presidents Council used our new positioning platform as a filter and asked whether the proposed changes align with the key words we use to describe our division.

Following is an overview of the Presidents Council’s position on a few of the proposals.

Proposal No. 3 (Canadian Membership Pilot Program) — This proposal will establish a pilot program for Canadian institutions to begin the membership process in Division II. The Presidents Council believes that this membership opportunity can help strengthen our membership numbers in the West. The Presidents Council also believes this proposal is consistent with the strategic objective of our positioning platform to highlight Division II as “a place of membership destination.”

Proposal Nos. 5 and 5-1 (Certi­fication Requirements for Male Practice Players) — This proposal clarifies eligibility requirements for male students involved with a varsity women’s team. Current regulations governing male practice players are unclear. Even though very few schools in Division II use male practice players on a regular basis, the Presidents Council believes it is important to clarify that all student-athletes, including male students practicing with a women’s team, satisfy certain standards and requirements. This is consistent with interpretations in this area and helps support our goal for all student-athletes — providing a path to graduation.

Proposal No. 7 (Division II Core-Course Requirements) — This proposal will increase Division II core-course requirements for initial eligibility from 14 to 16 by August 2013. Research shows an increase in high school academic core-course requirements in all 50 states. In addition, core requirements and admission standards on many campuses are increasing. The Presidents Council supports this increase, with a delayed implementation for high school and prospect notice, as a way to better prepare prospective student-athletes to be ready for the demands of a “balanced” life when they begin their first year of the Division II student-athlete experience.

Proposal No. 8 (Skill Instruction) — This proposal (and its interpretations) attempts to improve the important practice of skill instruction on our Division II campuses. Division II student-athletes compete at a high level, and they want to receive special instruction outside their traditional playing season. This proposal, developed over the past two years, is a compromise that protects this special instruction (it doesn’t advance it to full team practices), yet the proposal increases the number of student-athletes receiving instruction and relaxes certain restrictions to help with student-athlete and coach time demands and ease facility restrictions. This proposal may not satisfy all, but it does improve the current system for our administrators, coaches and student-athletes.

Proposal No. 9 (Philosophy Statement) — This proposal revises the Division II philosophy statement to align with the division’s strategic-positioning platform. The proposed changes to the philosophy statement ensure consistency between the division’s philosophy and our positioning platform. These changes serve as a notice to the Division II membership that the platform is the guide for planning and implementing programs and initiatives for the division.

The NCAA Convention is a great time for us to celebrate our Division II membership and engage in the important issues and decisions for our future. Thank you for attending and allowing me the opportunity to serve with you, and I hope we look back on 2008 with the same degree of accomplishment that we can for 2007. All the best!

Charles Ambrose is president at Pfeiffer University and chair of the Division II Presidents Council.