Apr 14, 2010 8:39:05 AM

The Division III Management Council has begun shaping a legislative package for the 2011 Convention that frames how presidents and chancellors will drive the division's strategic agenda in the coming years.

Reacting to the Division III Presidents Council's September 2008 white paper that identified greater presidential leadership as essential for Division III to address membership growth, the Management Council endorsed a series of concepts that more clearly defines expectations for presidential involvement and builds a structure that facilitates more strategic input.

The effort also aligns with the division's new strategic-positioning platform.

Among the concepts the Management Council advanced is to eliminate the need for the Presidents Council to sponsor all of the Convention proposals that come from the governance structure. That would allow the Management Council to develop and sponsor the "operational" legislation and give presidents more leeway to focus on higher-altitude governance and strategic initiatives.

A Management Council subcommittee would help facilitate that delineation, determining which concepts warrant Presidents Council review (using the Division III philosophy statement and the strategic-positioning platform as benchmarks). That group also would approve the final legislative drafts of proposals the Presidents Council endorses, which would eliminate the Presidents Council's current practice of reviewing all proposals and concepts. Membership on the subcommittee likely would include the two presidents currently serving on the Management Council.

Another concept would add two senior administrators with athletics oversight to the Management Council (increasing the group's roster from 19 to 21). The additions may broaden the perspective of the Council by including a voice that, while responsible for overseeing athletics on most Division III campuses, has not historically been included in governance discussions. Management Council members see the additions (who may also serve on the subcommittee described earlier) as particularly helpful in legislative discussions, and as being able to smooth the transition of any greater legislative authority being given to the Council.

While it wasn't difficult to gain consensus on those concepts, Council members had to work harder to find a comfort zone on how to hold conferences accountable for demonstrating presidential leadership – which is another pillar in the Presidents Council white paper.

The existing Division III Conference Self-Study Guide addresses the importance of presidential leadership, but the Presidents Council is suggesting that the division may benefit from a more specific standard of participation.

Though Management Council members realize the challenge of dictating or mandating how frequently leadership groups should meet or the format of those meetings, they are recommending that every conference's presidential leadership group meet biannually either in person or via teleconference or videoconference. The Council also encouraged presidential leadership groups to communicate frequently with other conference groups (such as athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives) to ensure that the broader conference leadership is up to speed on the division's (and the conference's) strategic initiatives.

The Management Council considered suggesting an annual meeting but ended up favoring the biannual approach.

Overall, Council chair Lynn Oberbillig said the concepts support the increased momentum for presidential leadership that already has been gained through the work on the Division III strategic-positioning platform.

"We've already seen more involvement from presidents through that initiative, and that has manifested itself in these concepts that the Presidents Council has suggested," said Oberbillig, the athletics director at Smith College. "To me, the Management Council's endorsement of these concepts confirms that they are good ideas."

The concepts will head to the Presidents Council for review later this month. Endorsement there would prompt them to be developed into draft legislation for the 2011 Convention cycle.