National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News FeaturesDecember 9, 1996Pair of proposals focus on basketball draft exemptionThis is the fourth of seven articles on legislation that has been submitted for the 91st annual NCAA Convention January 11-15, 1997, in Nashville, Tennessee. The article reviews proposals in the amateurism/benefits/financial aid and eligibility groupings. Two proposals for the 1997 Convention revisit the question of whether basketball student-athletes should be permitted to enter a professional draft and retain intercollegiate eligibility in the sport. A group of Division I institutions are proposing that the Association abandon legislation adopted three years ago that permits a basketball student-athlete to enter a professional draft one time without jeopardizing intercollegiate eligibility, provided that the student-athlete declares his or her intention to resume intercollegiate competition within 30 days after the draft. The sponsors maintain that the rule does not help student-athletes as intended, because a professional team retains rights even for draftees who opt to remain in school. They suggest that existing legislation permitting student-athletes to determine their market value provides sufficient assistance in making a decision to turn professional. The NCAA Professional Sports Liaison Committee -- which originally recommended the professional draft rule -- is not opposing the institutions' proposal, but it has suggested an alternative. The NCAA Council is sponsoring a committee proposal that would permit a basketball student-athlete who enters a draft but is not drafted to retain eligibility. The committee anticipates that the National Basketball Association will create an undergraduate advisory committee to provide information to student-athletes on their draft prospects -- and says it will withdraw the proposal if that happens before the 1997 Convention. But the committee is seeking in the meantime to protect athletes who enter a draft without reliable information about their prospects for selection. Other amateurism proposals Convention delegates also will consider a membership proposal that would permit top draft prospects to obtain loans against anticipated earnings and Council proposals addressing the documentation of disability insurance and loans to obtain such insurance. The Atlantic 10 Conference is sponsoring the proposal to allow loans against future earnings. The Council declined earlier this year to sponsor a similar proposal based on a recommendation by the NCAA Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism, pending further study. The Atlantic 10's proposal would limit the availability of such loans to a student-athlete who is rated by a "collective body of professionals" as a first-round draft pick and is eligible for intercollegiate competition, and who has purchased permissible insurance against a disabling injury or illness. The disability-insurance loan proposals address concerns about the potential for abuse of existing legislation that permits student-athletes to obtain a loan to pay insurance premiums. The proposals' effect would be to require a student-athlete to file all loan documents with an institution's director of athletics, regardless of how the loan is secured. The Council also is sponsoring two other proposals related to amateurism issues. One would to permit payment of expenses to student-athletes for the promotion of elite competitions such as the Olympic Games -- regardless of how far the athlete must travel for promotional activities. The other would permit student-athletes to participate on a youth team sponsored by a professional organization. Benefits Division I members will consider a proposal to permit institutions to pay expenses for spouses and children of student-athletes to attend NCAA championship competition. Because of concerns about providing the benefit equitably across sports, the Council proposes limiting the benefit to payment of expenses during one round of competition at one championship site. Permissible expenses would include transportation, lodging, meals and expenses associated with team entertainment functions. All three divisions will consider another proposal involving benefits. The Colonial Athletic Association proposal would permit institutions to provide student-athletes with the same meal allowance during a vacation period when the athlete must remain on campus as is permitted when the team travels. Financial aid Two Convention proposals address exemption of financial aid from grant-in-aid limits or cost-of-attendance calculations. A group of schools proposes that an educational grant awarded from a source outside the institution and not based on the recipient's athletics ability be exempted from grant limitations. The sponsors say that the receipt of such awards is too difficult to monitor, because many are provided by check directly to a student-athlete. However, the NCAA Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism has expressed concern that adoption of the proposal could lead to abuses. It suggests that athletics boosters could establish such grants, then award them primarily to student-athletes. Another proposal, sponsored by the Council, would add welfare benefits to a list of government grants for educational purposes that are exempted from grant-in-aid and cost-of-attendance limits. Initial eligibility The Council is sponsoring four proposals related to initial eligibility that were recommended by the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee. Two of the proposals address the application of initial-eligibility requirements to students with disabilities. One of those proposals stems from recent meetings between representatives of the Association and the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the accommodation of students with learning disabilities. The proposal would permit a student diagnosed with a learning disability to use all core courses completed prior to initial full-time enrollment at a collegiate institution -- and confirmed as core courses on a high school's Form 48-H -- in meeting the Association's initial-eligibility requirements. Another proposal is intended to clarify that the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee has the final authority to determine whether high-school courses for students with disabilities are core courses, rather than a high-school principal who confirms the comparability of such classes with other core courses at a school. That proposal also would delete references in legislation to "the learning-disabled or handicapped." Other initial-eligibility proposals for the 1997 Convention include:
Olympic practice The NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee is the source of a Council-sponsored proposal designed to give potential Olympians additional opportunities to practice alongside student-athletes in organized practice sessions. The proposal -- which resulted from an NCAA/U.S. Olympic Committee task force's recommendation for strengthening the relationship between the two organizations -- would permit a graduate student to practice with an institution's team under these conditions: The athlete's participation is recommended by the USOC or a national governing body; the practice takes place only at the institution the athlete currently attends or previously attended as a graduate student; the practice occurs only in an individual sport or the sports of rowing and synchronized swimming; and the athlete does not engage in coaching activities. The proposal also would specify that student-athletes with eligibility remaining who take advantage of the practice opportunity may do so only during the academic year immediately preceding the Olympic Games. Other eligibility issues Various other issues also are addressed in eligibility-grouping proposals:
Summary Following is a summary of each of the proposals in the amateurism/benefits/financial aid and eligibility groupings, including sponsors, committee positions (if any) and the business session in which a proposal will be considered. Amateurism/benefits/financial aid No. 79: Permit student-athletes who are projected to be selected in the first round of the draft, and who have purchased insurance against a disabling injury or illness per 12.1.1.4.1, to secure a loan from a legitimate lending establishment against future earnings. Sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference. Professional Sports Liaison Committee position: None. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 80: Preclude a student-athlete in the sport of basketball from being able to enter a professional league's draft without jeopardizing the student's intercollegiate eligibility in that sport. Sponsored by nine Division I institutions. Professional Sports Liaison Committee position: None. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 81: Specify that a student-athlete who is drafted by a professional basketball team no longer has remaining eligibility in that sport. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Professional Sports Liaison Committee. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 82: Clarify that a student-athlete must provide documentation of any insurance policy against a disabling injury or illness regardless of whether a loan is secured to purchase the insurance policy. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Committee on Infractions. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 83: Require copies of any loan documents associated with disability insurance to be filed in the office of the director of athletics, regardless of the source of the collateral for the loan. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Professional Sports Liaison Committee. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 84: Permit a student-athlete to receive legitimate and normal expenses to participate in promotional activities related to specified competitive events in which the student-athlete has been selected to participate, regardless of the distance of the activity from the member institution's campus. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 85: Permit an individual to participate on a youth team sponsored by a professional organization without jeopardizing intercollegiate eligibility, provided specified conditions are met. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Professional Sports Liaison Committee. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 86: Permit a Division I institution to provide the cost of actual and necessary expenses (including expenses associated with team entertainment functions) for the spouse and children of eligible student-athletes to accompany the student-athlete to any NCAA championship in which the student-athlete is a participant. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Executive Committee. Division I business session. No. 86-1: Permit a Division I institution to provide the cost of actual and necessary expenses (including expenses associated with team entertainment functions) for the spouse and children of eligible student-athletes to accompany the student-athlete to only one round (conducted at one site) of any NCAA championship in which the student-athlete is a participant. Sponsored by the Council. Division I business session. No. 87: Permit member institutions to provide student-athletes with a meal allowance consistent with the allowance permitted on intercollegiate trips when student-athletes are required to remain on campus during a vacation period for practice or competition. Sponsored by the Colonial Athletic Association. Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism position: Support. Student-Athlete Advisory Committee position: None. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 88: Permit a student-athlete to receive an educational grant that is awarded from an outside source solely on basis of having no relationship to athletics ability without including the value of such aid in the student-athlete's full grant-in-aid limitations. Sponsored by nine Division I institutions. Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism position: Oppose. Divisions I and II business sessions. No. 89: Include welfare benefits received from a state or federal government among the exempted government grants set forth in Bylaw 15.2.4.2. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism. General business session; all divisions voting. Eligibility No. 90: Permit the use of individual core courses graded on a pass/fail basis for purposes of satisfying the core-curriculum requirements, with the understanding that the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse shall assign the course the lowest passing grade at that high school, which in some instances could be a grade of "D." Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Academic Requirements Committee. Divisions I and II business sessions. No. 91: Clarify that the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee (as opposed to the high-school principal) has final authority to determine whether high-school courses for students with disabilities are core courses; further, to delete all references to the word "handicapped" in Bylaw 14.3.1.3.4. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Academic Requirements Committee. Divisions I and II business sessions. No 92: Permit students with learning disabilities to use all core courses completed prior to initial full-time collegiate enrollment as specified. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Academic Requirements Committee. Division I business session. No. 93: Permit a student to receive a waiver of the initial-eligibility requirements pursuant to an early admissions program, even if the student has not satisfied the core-course requirements in the area of English (i.e., lacking four years of English). Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Academic Requirements Committee. Division I business session. No. 94: Ensure that confidential, personally identifiable information about student-athletes provided to the NCAA by member institutions is accorded the protections against public disclosure established in the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 USC Section 1232g, et seq., the "Buckley Amendment"). Sponsored by 36 member institutions. General business session; all divisions voting. No. 95: Permit a graduate student to practice with an institution's team, provided the individual's participation is recommended by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) or the national governing body; the practice takes place only at the institution(s) the individual currently attends or previously attended as a graduate student; the participation involves an individual sport or the sport of rowing or synchronized swimming; the individual does not participate in any coaching activities; and, in the case of a student-athlete with eligibility remaining, the participation occurs during the academic year immediately preceding the Olympic Games. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. Divisions I, II and III business sessions. No. 96: Permit student-athletes in the sports of men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball to compete on outside teams during the spring outside of the institution's playing and practice season as specified. Sponsored by nine Division I institutions. Eligibility Committee position: None. Division I business session. No. 97: In Division II, remove the restrictions on outside basketball competition that occurs during the summer. Sponsored by the Northeast-10 Conference. Eligibility Committee position: None. Division II business session. No. 98: Specify instances in which a "de minimus" violation will not render a prospect or enrolled student-athlete ineligible while retaining the fact that such a violation shall be considered an institutional violation. Sponsored by the Council; recommended by the Eligibility Committee. Divisions I, II and III business sessions (immediate effective date). Next week: Proposals in the recruiting grouping. |