[Following is part of a series that reviews Division I proposals for the 2008-09 legislative cycle. Today’s article focuses on proposals related to Bylaw 13 (recruiting).]

More than a dozen proposals altering the NCAA’s recruiting rules will be considered by the membership during this legislative cycle, including measures changing when a prospect officially becomes a student-athlete and altering the ban on electronic communication with recruits.

Two measures, one submitted by the recruiting subcommittee of the former Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and one by the Southeastern Conference, seek to change when a prospective student-athlete becomes a full-fledged student-athlete and can receive appropriate benefits.

The AEC subcommittee proposal would allow prospects enrolled in the institution’s summer term before initial full-time enrollment to be considered student-athletes whether they are receiving institutional athletics aid. This change would allow the same access to institutional facilities and services as student-athletes who are receiving aid for the summer term and would lift contact restrictions imposed on prospects before they become student-athletes.

The SEC proposal would allow prospects who have signed a National Letter of Intent or given a similar commitment to a school and have reported to an institutional orientation session two weeks before classes start to be considered student-athletes, permitting appropriate access to facilities and services and lifting the contact restrictions between coaches and recruits.

This proposal would help prospective student-athletes who travel long distances to attend the orientation sessions to remain on campus until classes begin and be afforded the same benefits they will receive the first day of classes.

Other proposals changing restrictions on the spring evaluation in football will also be reviewed this year. An SEC measure would prohibit coaches from participating in off-season campus coaching clinics, visiting a prospect’s high school or meet with a prospect’s coach off- campus during the spring evaluation period. The conference wants to clarify what it believes is confusion surrounding the recent adoption of legislation prohibiting head coaches from off-campus recruiting during the spring.

The Big Ten has introduced legislation that would allow coaches to make an in-person, off-campus contact with a prospect at the prospect’s high school during the spring evaluation period. The proposal would include prospects in their junior year. The conference believes the change will enhance assessments of the “character and academic qualifications” of a recruit and reduce the number of impermissible contacts during the period.

Other recruiting proposals of note:

• Proposal No. 2008-20, allowing live evaluations at events run by a scholastic governing body and preventing staff members from attending specific recruiting events.

• Proposal No. 2008-28, prohibiting offers of aid and commitments before July 1 of a women’s lacrosse prospect’s junior year.

• Proposal No. 2008-29, allowing prospects (in sports other than basketball and football) to participate in voluntary strength and conditioning workouts in the summer if the prospect is enrolled in summer session.