The Division III Membership Committee, following a review of members’ compliance with minimum contest and student-athlete participation requirements adopted in 2006, believes the current sport-by-sport minimums remain appropriate.

The committee, which met February 10-11 in San Diego, also is reminding Division III members of the approaching increase in minimum sports-sponsorship requirements, in which institutions with an enrollment of more than 1,000 undergraduate students must sponsor at least 12 sports (six for men, six for women) beginning in 2010.

Committee members reviewed analyses of institutions’ compliance with Bylaw 20.11.3.5 contest minimums, which are set at 70 percent of the average for actual contests that Division III members report playing in a year, and that bylaw’s requirements for minimum numbers of participants in each sport.

Using data from the 2007-08 academic year, the committee agreed that the current minimums in each sport remain valid and that no changes are needed.

The committee also continued preparations for the increase next year in sport-sponsorship requirements from 10 sports to 12 for schools with an enrollment of more than 1,000. That increase also was adopted in 2006 as Division III approved legislation supporting its philosophy of broad-based participation in intercollegiate athletics.

It reviewed a status report on fewer than 30 institutions that are expected to be subject to the requirement and currently either do not sponsor 12 sports, or sponsor fewer than the required minimum number of men’s or women’s sports.

The committee will provide reminders of the increase during coming weeks to the institutions included in the report, through communication with institutional administrators.

In another action, the committee reviewed legislation governing the number of institutions that may be admitted in a given year to provisional- or reclassifying-membership status, to determine whether it clearly states the intent of the proposal adopted in 2007 that the class size should average four schools annually. The legislation currently permits Division III to accept more than four institutions in an annual class, if warranted.

As a result, the committee recommended to the Division III Management Council that the language of the bylaw be modified based on intent to specify the average class size of four institutions and agreed that the average would be determined over a four-year period.

Other highlights

In other actions during its winter meeting, the Membership Committee:

•         Recommended to the Management Council that the Midwest Lacrosse Conference be granted active membership, effective in September 2009.

•         Reviewed annual audits of selected institutions’ compliance with sport-sponsorship requirements and completion of the Institutional Self-Study Guide, and reviewed institutions’ compliance with bylaws requiring attendance at the NCAA Convention and administration of coaches’ tests.

•         Reviewed conferences’ submission of the recently implemented Conference Self-Study Guide. The committee, noting that several conferences missed the August 1 deadline for submitting the CSSG, agreed to maintain a one-year grace period beyond the deadline for submission, and also agreed that the $2,500 fee paid to a conference for administration of initiatives grants will be revoked in cases where the league fails to properly submit the report within the grace period.