In addition to determining the status of institutions progressing through the membership process, the Division II Membership Committee approved a policy requiring Canadian institutions applying for Division II membership to follow NCAA rules in all varsity sports, even those for which an NCAA championship is not offered.

The issue pertains primarily to ice hockey, for which Division II does not offer a championship but which many Canadian institutions sponsor. Current NCAA legislation (Constitution 3.2.4.4) applies NCAA bylaws and other legislation to any sport the institution sponsors as “varsity.”

At least one Canadian school considering NCAA membership has asked whether its men’s ice hockey program would be subject to NCAA requirements even though there isn’t a Division II championship and there currently is no opportunity for a Canadian institution to sponsor a sport at the NCAA Division I level.

The Membership Committee reviewed the matter but eventually agreed that any sport classified as varsity must meet the rules and regulations of that division regardless of whether that sport has access to an NCAA championship.

The action became necessary when the Division II membership at the 2008 Convention facilitated NCAA membership from Canadian schools. Division II is the only division to have taken advantage of an NCAA Executive Committee-approved pilot program to consider four-year Canadian institutions as potential NCAA members.

Simon Fraser, located in Burnaby, British Columbia, officially applied for Division II membership this year and will enter year one of the candidacy period September 1. Simon Fraser does not sponsor ice hockey.

The Membership Committee also approved another matter pertaining to prospective Canadian members, which is when and under what circumstances Canadian institutions are required to convert their financial figures to United States dollars to confirm whether those institutions are complying with Title IX and EADA reporting requirements.

Committee members voted to require Canadian institutions to convert their expenditures from Canadian to United States dollars on May 1 (using the conversion rate published by the United States Treasury) for the purpose of reporting expenditures on their athletics teams.

In other action at the Membership Committee’s July 7-9 meeting, members:

• Noted that the deadline for applications from prospective member institutions will change over the next two years. The usual June 1 deadline will be in place for 2010 but will change to December 1 afterward. That allows for two deadlines in 2010 (June 1 and December 1), and the Membership Committee will review applications at its July 2010 and February 2011 meetings.
• Voted to require institutions in the membership process to file applications and annual reports electronically in addition to submitting a hard copy to the national office.
• Approved a request from Hawaii-Hilo to waive the two-year reclassification period for moving its baseball team from Division I to Division II.