National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

January 26, 1998

Division II joins in approval of core-course review process

The Division II Presidents Council has joined Division I in modifying the Association's approach to certifying core courses required for initial eligibility

The Presidents Council, meeting January 11 in Atlanta, approved a Division II Mangement Council recommendation that the presidents adopt revised core-course procedures designed to permit high-school principals to determine which of their schools' courses meet the NCAA's definition of a core course.

The new approach was developed jointly by the Division II Academic Requirements Committee and the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet, with participation by the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Committee and the Divisions I and II Core-Course Review Subcommittee.

The Presidents Council also approved related recommendations to revise criteria that high-school courses must meet to be accepted as core courses for NCAA initial-eligibility purposes.

The Division I Board of Directors approved the new core-course certification approach and revised criteria during a separate meeting in Atlanta (see January 19 issue of The NCAA News). Divisions I and II require certification of student-athletes' initial eligibility for athletics competition by the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse.

Other actions

The Division II Presidents Council also reviewed other actions taken during a January 9-10 Division II Management Council meeting in Atlanta (see accompanying box) and established a nominating committee to prepare slates of candidates for the positions of Presidents Council chair (election effective immediately) and vice-chair (election effective September 1, 1998).

The presidents postponed until April the election of a new vice-chair after learning that Adam W. Herbert will resign this month as Presidents Council chair. Herbert, president of the University of North Florida, has been named chancellor of the State University System of Florida.

The Presidents Council's current vice-chair, Anthony F. Ceddia of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, will serve as interim chair until the Council conducts an election to select successors for both Herbert and Ceddia.

Other highlights


Division II Presidents Council
January 11/Atlanta

The Presidents Council took the following actions on recommendations by the Division II Management Council:

  • Declined to take a position on 1998 Convention Proposal No 17, a proposal that would have given conferences authority to impose disciplinary or corrective actions in selected secondary infractions cases (the proposal ultimately was defeated by the Division II membership).

  • Approved the appointments of Kathryn Wilson, director of athletics at Moorhead State University, to the Division II Committee on Infractions and Catherine Lynne Bowles, University of Northern Colorado, as the Division II student-athlete member of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics

  • Approved appoointments of Division II Management Council representatives to the following committees/project teams: Kenneth Borden, Division II Academic Requirements Committee; Doug Echols, Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity; Marjorie A. Trout, NCAA Honors Committee; and Earl W. Edwards, Walter Byers Scholarship Committee.

    Division II Management Council

    January 9-10 and 12/Atlanta

    In addition to making recommendations considered during the Presidents Council's January 11 meeting, the Management Council:

  • Accepted a report from the Division II Legislation Committee, including plans by the committee to solicit membership input regarding deregulation and rules simplification in Division II and to reformat the Division II Manual to eliminate "gaps" in the numbering of division-specific bylaws.

  • Directed the national office staff to study alternatives for including Division II representatives on a committee responsible for oversight of the Association's marketing, licensing and promotions activities.

  • Denied three appeals of actions by the Division II Academic Requirements Committee Subcommittee to Review Initial-Eligibility Waivers.

  • Approved a recommendation by the Division II Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement to require that contemporaneous medical documentation be submitted on behalf of a Division II student-athlete seeking a medical hardship waiver.

  • Discussed means of encouraging the enhancement of faculty athletics representatives' and senior woman administrators' roles at member institutions and in the Division II governance structure, and directed the national office staff to compile a list of Division II institutions that have not appointed a senior woman administrator.