Apr 27, 2010 6:03:17 PM

Division I

Adoption and implementation of new membership standards. A moratorium on new Division I members is set to expire in 2011, and the division is expected to spend the next legislative cycle codifying recommendations made by the Leadership Council. New standards are expected to tighten entrance requirements to preserve the value of Division I membership.

Commercialism/student-athlete likeness. Division I has been considering the use of student-athlete names, images and likenesses to promote athletics programs for years, and the next year will be no different. The division will debate proposed legislation based on a presidential task force report. Current likeness restrictions have been on the books for decades and do not account for advances in technology.

Academic reform. The division is facing a critical point in academic reform, and some changes to a variety of eligibility standards and the Academic Performance Program are expected in the future. The division will be asked to contemplate changing initial-eligibility standards and implementing standards for student-athletes who transfer to Division I institutions from two-year colleges. The look of the Academic Performance Program could change as well as the Committee on Academic Performance considers changes to the penalty structure in the wake of various adjustments that changed the true meaning of the numbers.

Division II

Life in the Balance, Phase II. The top Division II issue facing the new president will be consideration of Phase II of the division's ambitious Life in the Balance initiative.

At the 2010 Convention, Division II approved the first phase, which created landmark changes to Division II playing and practice season regulations. The new rules:

• Provide a one-week-later date for the first permissible contest in all fall sports (to the Thursday preceding September 6) and a later reporting date for fall-sports student-athletes (17 days before the first permissible contest in soccer, volleyball, cross country and field hockey, and 21 days before the first permissible contest in football). The proposal also applies to golf and tennis for schools in conferences that conduct their lone league championship or most of its conference matches in the fall.
• Reduce the number of contests in soccer from 20 to 18 and the number of matches in volleyball from 28 to 26, effective in August 2010.  The reduction in field hockey contests from 20 to 18 will be effective in August 2011.
• Reduce the number of contests in baseball from 56 to 50 and the dates of competition in golf from 24 to 21. The proposal also eliminates the tournament exception in softball.
• Reduce the maximum number of contests in basketball from 27 to 26.
• Establish December 20-26 as a seven-day dead period during which no athletically related activities can be conducted in winter sports. The proposal also restricts voluntary activities for all sports during that time unless the facilities are open to all students.

The second phase will focus on annual and discretionary exemptions, competition in the nonchampionship segment, and practice and skill instruction outside the playing season. Division II governance groups – including the Legislation Committee, Championships Committee and Management Council – have discussed the issue during the early part of 2010 based on counsel from the membership. Several concepts have been advanced, including "no change" in several areas.

National Championships Festivals. Division II will continue to evaluate its pioneering National Championships Festival series. The Festivals, which began in 2004, uniquely bring together several championships at a common time and place. One Festival is conducted during each academic year, except for every fourth year, when one does not occur. This year, the Division II Fall National Championships Festival -- featuring men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball -- will be conducted November 30-December 4 in Louisville. More than 800 student-athletes will participate. Other Festivals have been scheduled through 2013, although sites have not been determined.

Membership issues. Division II faces several important membership issues, including ensuring the quality of new members and making certain that existing members are committed to the values and rules of Division II. Division II also is in the process of admitting the Association's first international member – Canada's Simon Fraser University – and managing the various challenges that accompany such landmark change.

Diversity. Division II is continuing to address the lack of diversity in head coaches and administrators. Division II has created several groundbreaking programs to increase diversity, including the Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Program. However, the percentage of minority administrators and coaches at Division II's non-Historically Black Colleges and Universities has remained small.

Division III

Activation of the strategic-positioning platform. Division III embarked on an attribute-based identity campaign in 2009 that encourages institutions to be the place student-athletes take responsibility for their own paths, follow their passions and find their potential through a comprehensive educational experience. The division will allocate $1.2 million over the next two years to activate the campaign at the conference and campus levels.

Presidential leadership. Among issues to emerge during a division-wide discussion of how to manage membership growth was an increased emphasis on presidential leadership in overseeing and governing intercollegiate athletics. In tandem with the strategic-positioning platform, Division III chancellors and presidents are being called upon to be more engaged in providing strategic direction for the division. In turn, the Division III governance structure is designing ways to facilitate that increased oversight.

Academic reporting pilot. The Division III Presidents Council recently approved a two-year pilot program to collect data from volunteering institutions for use in exploring the possibility of calculating graduation and academic-success rates for student-athletes. The Council suggested in one of its membership-issues "white papers" that academic reporting might be used to monitor whether student-athletes are performing comparably to an institution's general student body – one of the tenets of the Division III philosophy statement.