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DIII to consider 15 proposals at Convention

By Gary Brown
NCAA.org

Division III delegates will consider 15 legislative items during their Jan. 15 business session at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, including 13 proposals, one amendment-to-amendment and one resolution.

The business session, which also features a report on the results of the first year of the division’s academic reporting pilot, culminates four days of governance activity at the 2011 Convention.

The Division III Management Council meets on Wednesday, Jan. 12, followed by the Presidents Council the next day. Thursday is also the Convention’s opening business session, highlighted by remarks from new NCAA President Mark Emmert (who also will present Penn State football coach Joe Paterno with the Ford Award that day). Division III conducts an issues forum on Friday, and presidents and chancellors hold a luncheon afterward to discuss strategic initiatives. The NCAA Honors Celebration is also Friday night (click here for the entire Convention schedule).

As for Saturday’s business session, judging by the governance structure’s discussion on legislative proposals throughout the year delegates are likely to become most engaged over three areas in particular: defining parameters for student-athlete fundraising activities; providing student-athletes with access to strength and conditioning personnel; and determining squad and bench-size limits for NCAA championships.

The fundraising proposal (No. 2011-4) has generated the most debate. It would allow an institution to apply money that a student-athlete earns from fundraising for that student-athlete’s actual and necessary expenses for the specific item (for example, transportation, uniforms). Any unearned money would go to the institution, athletics department or team.

Current rules require all fundraising dollars to go to a general account used for the team as a whole.

Discussion throughout the year (the matter actually emerged just before last year’s Convention) has focused on whether the proposal gives institutions more autonomy and flexibility to manage fundraising activities or if it could actually detract from team chemistry.

Preliminary votes on whether to support the measure have produced razor-thin margins all year. As of now, the Presidents Council opposes it and the Management Council has decided to take no position, preferring for the membership to decide the matter on the Convention floor. The Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, citing feedback from campus and conference SAACs, supports the proposal.

Another much-discussed matter concerns whether to permit certified strength and conditioning personnel to conduct voluntary workouts for all student-athletes (Proposal No. 2011-7). Both Councils and the SAAC support the idea, since strength and conditioning personnel already are allowed to monitor these voluntary workouts. The concerns that have been raised include whether it infringes on the voluntary nature of the workouts and whether it might disadvantage schools that do not have designated strength and conditioning personnel.

That proposal also comes with an amendment-to-amendment that would allow the access only during the institution’s regular academic year (Proposal No. 2011-7-1).

The resolution that delegates will consider (Proposal No. R-2011-8) is a promise from the Councils and Championships Committee to study the appropriate squad, travel and bench limits for championship competition. The resolution is a reaction to two membership proposals (Nos. 2011-9 and 2011-10) that would allow institutions to determine how many student-athletes from its current active roster it desires to dress, participate in warm-ups and be in the bench area for an NCAA championship.

The resolution is offered as a more research-based and sport-specific approach to what would otherwise be institutional discretion in determining the appropriate number. The study and any resultant policy changes would have to be complete by July 1, 2011. The resolution itself does not result in a change to current legislation or policy.

The full list of proposals accompanies this article. NCAA staff also has produced a three-part educational video series designed to assist the membership in understanding the legislative content of the 2011 Convention proposals. The series is on the Division III home page by clicking on the “2011 Convention proposal videos” link in the Hot Topics box.

Academic reporting pilot

The Jan. 15 business session also provides delegates with a summary of the first year of a two-year pilot program to assess student-athlete academic performance that reveals student-athletes are graduating at rates comparable with or higher than those of their student body counterparts.

A total of 115 Division III schools voluntarily submitted graduation-rates data in the first year of the pilot. Results from this representative, division-wide sample showed that 66 percent of student-athletes who enrolled as freshmen in 2003 graduated within six years (the same methodology used to calculate federal graduation rates in Divisions I and II). That compares favorably with the 65 percent graduation rate for the general student body at the 444 active and provisional Division III member schools.

The pilot report also calculated an “Academic Success Rate” that takes transfer student-athletes into account. Data from the pilot schools show an ASR for student-athletes at 89 percent (85 percent for men and 95 percent for women).

The Division III Presidents Council authorized the pilot to obtain empirical data to support the portion of the Division III philosophy statement that reads: “Assure that academic performance of student-athletes is, at a minimum, consistent with that of the general student body.” Division III’s identity initiative launched last year, which incorporates “comprehensive learning” and “proportion” as key attributes of the Division III student-athlete experience, also prompted the effort.

The pilot’s purpose also was to determine the level of burden on institutions to provide the data, and to determine whether the findings would be relevant and useful in helping schools track the academic success of their student-athletes. Feedback from the business session will help answer those questions.

The second year of pilot data will be compiled by October, and the overall results of the pilot – as well as whether such data gathering should be an ongoing initiative – likely will be discussed at the 2012 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis.

Division III Legislative Proposals for the 2011 Convention

Proposal No. 2011-1  Organization – Presidents Council and Management Council – Authority of Presidents Council and Management Council

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: Presidents Council.

Intent: To authorize the Management Council to adopt noncontroversial and intent-based amendments, administrative bylaws and regulations to govern Division III, sponsor legislative proposals and act in other matters, while the Presidents Council shall retain the authority to ratify, amend or rescind any action of the Management Council.

Proposal No. 2011-2  Organization – Management Council – Composition – Athletics Direct Report and Increase in Members

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: Presidents Council.

Intent: To establish a definition of an athletics direct report; to increase the number of members of the Division III Management Council from 19 to 21; and to require the composition of the Management Council to include at least two athletics direct reports (non-presidents or chancellors with oversight of intercollegiate athletics).

Proposal No. 2011-3  Recruiting – Recruiting Materials – Advertisements and Promotions – Nonathletics Institutional Advertisements

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Presidents Council [Management Council (Interpretations and Legislation Committee)].

Intent: To permit an institution (or a third party acting on behalf of the institution) to produce nonathletics institutional promotional material (for example, use of signage, kiosks, distribution of printed materials, television and radio advertisements, electronic advertisements) for use at high school or two-year college athletics events or during broadcasts of such events.

Proposal No. 2011-4  Amateurism – Preferential Treatment – Exception – Designation of Fundraising Money

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Colonial States Athletic Conference, Little East Conference, New Jersey Athletic Conference and Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Intent: To allow an institution to designate money earned via fundraising by a student-athlete specifically for that student-athlete up to the actual and necessary expenses for the specific item (for example, transportation, uniforms). Any unearned money would go to the institution, athletics department or team. The proposal also defines earned and unearned money.

Proposal No. 2011-5  Postseason Events – Division III Championships – Men’s Volleyball

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: City University of New York Athletic Conference and Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

Intent: To establish an NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship.

Proposal No. 2011-6  NCAA Membership – Definitions and Applications – Affiliated and Corresponding Membership – Requirements for Affiliated Membership and Elimination of Corresponding Membership

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Presidents Council.

Intent: To eliminate corresponding membership and modify the requirements for affiliated membership.

Proposal No. 2011-7  Playing and Practice Seasons – Athletically Related Activities – Certified Strength and Conditioning Personnel Monitoring and Conducting Workouts

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Great Northeast Athletic Conference, Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Little East Conference, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

Intent: To permit certified strength and conditioning personnel to conduct voluntary workouts for all student-athletes.

Proposal No. 2011-7-1  Playing and Practice Seasons – Athletically Related Activities – Certified Strength and Conditioning Personnel Monitoring and Conducting Workouts – Regular Academic Year

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Presidents Council [Management Council (Interpretations and Legislation Committee)]

Intent: To amend Proposal No. 2011-7 to permit certified strength and conditioning personnel to conduct voluntary workouts for all student-athletes only during the institution’s regular academic year.

Proposal No. R-2011-8  Executive Regulations – Administration of NCAA Championships – Squad Limits (Resolution)

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: NCAA Division III Presidents Council [Management Council (Championships Committee)]

Intent: To study the appropriate squad, travel and bench limits for championship competition. The study and any resultant policy changes would be complete by July 1, 2011. (The resolution itself does not result in a change to current legislation or policy.)

Proposal No. 2011-9  Executive Regulations – Administration of NCAA Championships – Squad Limits – Bench Size Limits – All Sports

Effective date: Immediate

Source: Empire 8 and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Intent: To (1) In all applicable sports, permit an institution to determine how many student-athletes it desires to have dressed, participate in warm-ups and in the bench area for an NCAA championship contest while still adhering to the maximum number of student-athletes eligible to compete in a particular contest as determined by that sports championship policy and maintaining the current per diem policies in all sports; and (2) In football, establish a maximum of 100 student-athletes who may be in the bench area.

Proposal No. 2011-10  Executive Regulations – Administration of NCAA Championships – Squad Limits – Bench Size Limits – Sports Other Than Football

Effective date: Immediate

Source: Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, Empire 8 and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Intent: In all applicable sports other than football, to permit an institution to determine how many student-athletes from its current active roster it desires to dress, participate in warm-ups and be in the bench area for an NCAA championship contest while still adhering to the maximum number of student-athletes eligible to compete in a particular championship as determined by that sports championship policy and while maintaining the current per diem policies in all sports.

Proposal No. 2011-11  Eligibility – Outside Competition – Exceptions – Triathlon

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and Empire 8.

Intent: To permit student-athletes to compete in triathlons without affecting their sport (for example, cross country, swimming, track and field) eligibility while still adhering to amateurism standards.

Proposal No. 2011-12  Playing and Practice Seasons – Wrestling – First Date of Practice and Competition

Effective date: August 1, 2011.

Source: Presidents Council [Management Council (Championships Committee)].

Intent: In wrestling, to specify that an institution shall not begin practice sessions before October 10 and shall not engage in its first date of competition with outside competition before November 1.

Proposal No. 2011-13  Executive Regulations – Administration of NCAA Championships – Restricted Advertising and Sponsorship Activities – Professional Sports Organizations or Teams

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: Presidents Council (Management Council).

Intent: To permit the NCAA [or a third party acting on behalf of the NCAA (for example, host institution, conference or local organizing committee)] to enter into a relationship with a professional sports organization or team for the specific purpose of marketing and promoting an NCAA championship event, activity or program, provided the professional sports organization or team is not identified as a sponsor of the event, activity or promotion.

Proposal No. 2011-14  Amateurism – Exception for Prize Money for Enrolled Student-Athletes – Outside the Playing Season During the Institution’s Official Summer Vacation Period – Individual Sports

Effective date: Immediate.

Source: Presidents Council [Management Council (Interpretations and Legislation Committee)].

Intent: To permit a student-athlete in an individual sport to accept prize money based on his or her place finish or performance in an open athletics event (an event that is not invitation only), provided the competition occurs outside the institution’s playing season during the institution’s official summer vacation period, the prize money does not exceed actual and necessary expenses and is provided only by the sponsor of the open event.