One of the most widely discussed -- and potentially expensive -- initiatives within the Association is the effort to enhance gender and ethnic diversity, both in sports participation opportunities and in athletics administrative positions.

It is a topic that has received the Association's full endorsement, but some within the NCAA wonder if it has received the Association's fullest financial commitment.

This year, the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, the Committee on Women's Athletics and the Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity Issues sent a call for funding priorities, but only a few were answered.

This followed an NCAA Convention in which diversity was a point made loud and clear during NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey's State of the Association address. Still, some believe the proposed budget for 2000-01 doesn't provide enough increases in funding for gender- or diversity-based programs.

"There was a lot of euphoria in January," said Division II Presidents Council Chair Gladys Styles Johnston. "But what people are saying now is, 'Yes, those things were said, which is what we want to hear, but show us the money.' "

The money turned out to be a little more than $200,000. It targeted a Web-based search strategy to increase women and minority hiring, as well as the development of diversity video conferences and a second summit to enhance opportunities for minority women.

While those initiatives include some of what the CWA and MOIC wanted, not all of those two groups' recommendations for this year were approved. Those recommendations included expansion of existing NCAA programs that enhance opportunities for women and ethnic minorities, increases in the NCAA's Youth Education through Sports clinics that target girls and ethnic minorities, and development of a pilot training program to help entry- and mid-level minorities advance to leadership positions in athletics, among other initiatives.

Support for increased commitment

Charles Whitcomb, chair of the MOIC, said an increased commitment to those types of programs -- which are known to be effective -- is the most logical way to enhance opportunities, something the Association has said it wants to do.

"I know schools need funds to balance their budgets, but it (the distribution) still doesn't get the money down to the kids the way it needs to," he said. "The programs that work get at the problem and aren't about just trying to do something for this year and not the next. These programs enhance opportunities for women and ethnic minorities for the long run."

The 2000-01 budget does, however, include significant dollars in championships enhancement, including several in Division I aimed at equalizing the balance between men's and women's postseason opportunities. Also funded were new championships in women's water polo and women's ice hockey. The Executive Committee indicated, in fact, that the championships initiatives combined with the $200,000 in diversity funding is about 30 percent of the Association's incremental resources, which it believes is a reasonable cut.

"As we look at ways to enhance women's championships through additional funding, we will be focusing on one of the ways that the issue of diversity can be addressed in the NCAA," NCAA Executive Committee Chair Charles Wethington noted.

Division III concerns

But the effort wasn't good enough for some. The Division III Management Council said that the Association-wide budget allocation for diversity and student-athlete welfare is insufficient. The Council called for the Executive Committee to consider funding additional initiatives identified by the CWA, the MOIC and other NCAA groups given that gender and ethnic diversity and student-athlete welfare are key priorities in the Division III strategic plan and for the Association, as identified by the Executive Committee.

Division III, in fact, is taking matters into its own hands to an extent. The newly created Division III Initiatives Task Force, established in January by the Division III Presidents Council to address three key areas in the division's strategic plan -- student-athlete welfare, diversity and membership education -- is recommending that about $4.5 million be allocated annually toward those initiatives over the next three years.

From an Association-wide perspective, however, the challenge is a heavy one for leaders charged with balancing the NCAA's multimillion-dollar budget, according to Washington State University President V. Lane Rawlins, a former chair of the Executive Committee's Budget Subcommittee.

"What you have to realize," he said, "is that the committees that make recommendations for student-athlete welfare are not the committees that have to balance the budget."

-- Gary T. Brown