National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

April 21, 1997

First II efforts produce compliance plans

Division II applied the finishing touches to one of its first initiatives in the restructured Association when the NCAA Division II Presidents Council Transition Team recently approved plans for programs to strengthen and enhance membership compliance programs.

The presidents gave final approval to details of a program to enhance compliance services for active Division II members and an educational assessment program for Division II provisional members.

Planning for the compliance programs began shortly after restructuring was approved by the Association's membership at the 1996 Convention. Since then, the programs have been given priority treatment by the Division II subcommittee of the NCAA Presidents Commission, the Division II Steering Committee, the Presidents Council Transition Team and the Division II Management Council Transition Team, which compiled the plans that ultimately were approved by Division II presidents.

The recent actions involving compliance services have their roots in Division II institutions' rejection at the 1996 Convention of an athletics certification program similar to the one currently employed in Division I.

In response, the Division II subcommittee of the Presidents Commission focused on other means of strengthening Division II rules awareness and compliance initiatives.

Strengthened ISSG

In actions affecting active members, the subcommittee first reviewed and then strengthened the Division II Institutional Self-Study Guide.

Institutions that currently have an ISSG deadline after January 1, 1998, will be required to use the enhanced guide (other institutions have the option of using either the current or enhanced ISSG before that date).

The enhanced ISSG includes new questions regarding diversity and sportsmanship and ethical conduct. In addition, Division II institutions will be required to attach to the ISSG a written plan for addressing any compliance problems that are identified in the self-study.

The written plan will stay on file with the completed ISSG at the institution, rather than be forwarded to the national office.

Enhancements

After completing work on the ISSG, the Commission's Division II subcommittee began to focus on increasing awareness of and expanding access to the Association's existing compliance-review programs, and also providing expanded consultative services, technical assistance and compliance workshops.

That work culminated in the Division II Presidents Council Transition Team's approval March 27 of enhanced compliance-education programs for active member institutions.

The program emphasizes the following enhancements:

  • Compliance reviews. Such reviews already are available to Division II institutions, but efforts will be made to increase institutions' awareness of and use of the service.

    Division II schools voluntarily can request a compliance review for the purpose of attempting to identify key areas in which current policies or procedures may leave that institution vulnerable to inadvertent or intentional rules violations.

    The review is intended to produce alternatives for reducing vulnerability to violations; it is not an audit and is not intended to uncover infractions. An NCAA staff member will visit the institution for approximately four days to conduct interviews, review documents and records, and guide group discussions involving institutional staff members who are involved in compliance-related activities.

    The staff member ultimately will provide the institution's chief executive officer with a written report of the review, focusing on such subjects as governance and rules-compliance initiatives, recruitment monitoring, eligibility certification, financial aid administration, rules education, and finances/use of funds.

    The object of the process is to help an institution build good systems for compliance. The institution ultimately is responsible for following up a review by developing and documenting procedures.

    Through increased awareness, it is anticipated that the NCAA staff will conduct 15 to 20 compliance reviews annually at Division II schools -- an increase from the current average of nine Division II reviews per year over the past 10 years.

  • Presentations by NCAA compliance staff members at Division II conference meetings. The plan approved by the Division II Presidents Council Transition Team calls for the national office staff to conduct what has been termed "mini-regional seminars" annually during each Division II conference's regularly scheduled meetings.

    The content of the presentations can vary according to the interests of a conference and its member institutions.

    Other compliance services

    Other program enhancements include:

  • Compliance reviews administered by conferences. The plan calls for the national office staff to expand a service that already is being utilized by Division I institutions. The NCAA staff would train Division II conference personnel in administering a voluntary conference review to conference members and also provide assistance as needed.

    Such reviews will be similar in approach to compliance reviews conducted by the NCAA staff, although not as in-depth. A review typically will employ a preliminary questionnaire and subsequent interviews to assess compliance systems, followed by a report to the institution's CEO.

    It is anticipated that two to three conferences may initiate such a program each year, and that each conference will conduct a couple of reviews annually of member institutions.

  • National office visits. The plan calls for encouraging Division II institutions to take greater advantage of the currently existing opportunity for institutional or conference personnel to visit the NCAA national office and meet one-on-one with selected staff members.

  • Conference-contact program. The NCAA will designate one legislative-services and one compliance-services staff member to serve as contacts for each Division II conference.

    The staff members will be responsible for handling requests for information from the conferences, offering assistance with regulatory issues and relaying information to a designated individual in each conference office.

    The compliance-enhancement plan also calls for the continuation of services that already are available to institutions:

  • The opportunity to attend regional rules-compliance seminars.

  • NCAA staff attendance at the annual meeting of the Division II Commissioners Association.

  • Access to the NCAA compliance services resource file and legislative services database.

  • Access to information via the Association's fax-on-demand service and World Wide Web site.

    If the NCAA Executive Committee approves funding for the plan during its May meeting, components of the plan can be implemented during the 1997-98 academic year.

    The cost of the enhancements is estimated at $170,000 annually, including operational expenses and staffing.

    Educational assessment

    The Division II subcommittee of the Commission also took steps to ensure that new members joining Division II are fully prepared for and committed to the responsibilities of membership.

    It proposed an educational assessment program for new provisional members -- which the Division II membership approved at the 1997 Convention -- then asked the Division II Management Council Transition Team to develop a plan for implementation of the program.

    That plan also received final approval March 27 from the Division II Presidents Council Transition Team.

    The purpose of the educational assessment program is to provide prospective Division II members with a vehicle for thoroughly assessing their commitment to and preparedness for NCAA membership, while providing current members greater assurance of the readiness of new Division II institutions.

    The plan approved by the presidents emphasizes the involvement of chief executive officers in the assessment process. A major feature of the plan is its assignment of a "mentoring" role to presidents of current Division II members.

    The program also will require the continuing involvement of provisional members' chief executive officers in the educational assessment process, including requiring the CEOs' attendance at every annual Convention during the provisional-membership period.

    In accordance with the NCAA membership's recent approval of an extension of the provisional membership period from three to four years, the educational assessment plan sets forth a year-by-year schedule of activities designed to prepare a Division II provisional member for eventual election to active membership.

    By successfully completing the four-year educational assessment program, provisional members should achieve:

  • An enhanced awareness of the realities and practicalities of joining the NCAA and Division II.

  • A more complete understanding of NCAA rules and membership requirements.

  • The knowledge and ability to develop systems for complying with Association rules.

  • An appreciation for the importance of campuswide involvement in the conduct and oversight of the athletics program.

    Scheduled assessment activities will lead provisional members through three distinct phases:

  • Exposure to and education on rules, membership requirements and compliance concepts/strategies associated with NCAA athletics programs.

  • General application of that knowledge to each provisional member's own campus.

  • Initial assessment and verification of how the institution is responding to that new information.

    Required activities

    Provisional members will be required to participate in a variety of activities during the assessment process. Those activities (and when they occur) are:

  • A face-to-face visit between the chief executive officers of the provisional member and an active Division II member (first year). The CEOs will discuss the implications of overseeing a Division II athletics program. The plan envisions that the visit will initiate a mentoring relationship among the CEOs, and ultimately will lead to similar relationships among other personnel at the active- and provisional-member institutions (for example, among the athletics directors, faculty athletics representatives and senior woman administrators).

  • An orientation to membership requirements, the NCAA Manual and national office services (first year). Representatives of provisional members, including but not limited to the CEO and athletics director, must attend a orientation session at the NCAA Convention during the first year of provisional membership (the faculty athletics representative and senior woman administrator must attend such a session once during the four-year assessment period).

  • Specific assistance in completing the required institutional self-study of the athletics program (first year). The institution will be required to complete the Division II Institutional Self-Study Guide by July 15 of the first year of provisional membership.

  • Instruction regarding NCAA rules and an assessment of current rules knowledge (first and second years). The provisional member will conduct a self-evaluation of rules awareness early in the second year of the period.

  • Compliance-systems education and self-assessment (second and third years). Early in the second year, the institution will receive a compliance notebook that includes an introduction to compliance concepts and NCAA-required forms. Self-assessment of an institution's compliance systems will extend into the third year.

  • Open forums with active members (beginning in year two). The forums will occur annually during the NCAA Convention. The athletics director must attend at least one forum during years two, three and four.

  • Sharing of compliance strategies (beginning in year two). Institutions will participate annually in regional rules-compliance seminars.

  • Verification that membership requirements are being met and that key elements are in place in the athletics program (fourth year). The institution will be required to provide verification that the objectives of the educational assessment have been achieved and that provisional-member activities have been completed.

  • Annual report. Throughout the period, the provisional members will be required to submit an annual report summarizing progress in fulfilling requirements. The Division II Management Council will review the reports and can take appropriate action in instances where an institution is not making the necessary progress.

    At the end of the educational assessment, the Division II Presidents Council will review the provisional member's application for active membership and supporting materials, and decide whether to grant active status.

    The program will become effective after the current moratorium on new NCAA members is lifted (no sooner than fall 1998), and will apply only to schools applying for Division II membership after that date.

    The cost of the program, also subject to Executive Committee approval, is $140,000 annually.