ST. LOUIS –The Division II faculty athletics representatives at the FARA Annual Meeting and Symposium backed the broader concepts in the “Life in the Balance” package headed to the 2010 NCAA Convention, although consensus on the details may have been lacking.

The four-proposal initiative seeks to streamline seasons – in part by establishing a later reporting date for fall-sport student-athletes – and reduce contests in 10 sports, including basketball. The Division II Presidents Council has endorsed the effort as a way to align playing-and-practice-season policies with the division’s strategic-positioning platform.

At the November 11-14 meeting, the faculty representatives − including FARA’s Division II Legislative Review Committee − supported the package that is designed to reduce missed class time, lower the amount of travel and elevate the opportunity for involvement in more campus extracurricular activities.

The discussion was not without debate, however. In particular, the FARs opposed a suggested “dead period” during the winter holiday break. The proposal prohibits countable athletically related activities from December 20-26 and restricts student-athletes in all sports from participating in any voluntary athletically related activities on campus during that period unless the facility is open to the general student body.

The seven-day restriction has caused confusion primarily regarding travel on the 19th for teams returning from away contests that day. Some of the faculty representatives thought the proposal puts teams at risk for having to return to their campus by a specific time. Others, particularly those from schools in the West, thought it put their teams at a disadvantage from a travel perspective.

The debate reflected a proposed Great Northwest Athletic Conference amendment-to-amendment that would allow teams to travel December 20 after road contests that occur on the 19th as long as that is the earliest practical opportunity to return to campus.

The Division II Legislation Committee opposed the amendment at its meeting earlier this month, claiming that the intent of the dead period for winter sports is for institutions not to conduct any athletically related activities during those seven days – including travel to and from contests. The Legislation Committee, while understanding the scheduling difficulties with leagues in the West, nonetheless believes the GNAC amendment erodes that intent.

The Legislation Committee did address the practical ramifications of scheduling around the dead period by issuing an interpretation to allow teams to arrive on campus on the 20th as long as they left the contest site before midnight.

Some of the Division II faculty representatives, though, remained concerned that the dead period wasn’t flexible enough. Some also thought the dead period should be an institutional decision (that is, leave it to schools to decide which seven-day window should be honored). That concept has come up several times with other governance groups and ultimately not been supported.

Student-athletes Rocky Horn and Chris Odom, members of the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, participated in the conversation. Both told the faculty representatives that while they couldn’t speak for all the Division II SAAC members (the SAAC meets later this week to formulate positions on the legislation), they did not support reducing contests.

Horn and Odom stressed to the FARs that student-athletes “know what they are getting into” when it comes to the time demands of athletics participation. They also noted that student-athletes still graduate at a higher rate than their student-body counterparts.

Rather than reduce contests, they suggested looking at reducing preseason practice or the nontraditional segment. Those areas in fact are under review in second phase of the Life in the Balance initiative for next year.