The future of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Rules Committee will depend on actions taken at the upcoming meetings of the Division III Championships Committee and the Division I Championships/
Competition Cabinet.

The proposed Association-wide rules committee was to have begun being assembled this year, but varying actions among divisions during the NCAA Convention may alter those plans.

There is a difference of opinion among the divisions when it comes to the composition of the new group, which may delay the effective date of the proposed legislation.

In Division III, the Management Council withdrew Proposal NC-23 at its pre-Convention meeting at the request of the Division III Women's Volleyball Committee and referred it back to that group and to the Division III Championships Committee.

Division III Women's Volleyball Committee Chair Tina Hill, senior woman administrator at California Lutheran University, said the proposed composition of the rules committee is the main point of concern for Division III. Proposal NC-23 currently indicates that the group will include five members from Division I and two each from Divisions II and III. Also, one of the nine members would serve as secretary-rules editor.

The proposal represents a shift from the usual NCAA rules committee composition of 4-2-2, including a secretary-rules editor.

NCAA women's volleyball currently uses rules written by the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS). Hill said the equal balance among divisional interests in the current NAGWS rules committee will disappear if Proposal NC-23 comes to fruition.

The proposal to establish a committee and write rules was first a membership proposal, followed almost simultaneously by a recommendation from the Committee on Women's Athletics that was referred to the Division I Championships/
Competition Cabinet for consideration. The cabinet requested input from the Division I Women's Volleyball Committee before supporting the proposal.

Since then, the Division I Women's Volleyball Committee has further clarified its language to specify the composition of the group, but it maintains the desire for the 5-2-2 divisional balance. The new Division I proposal, however, asks that the secretary-rules editor be the 10th member of the group instead of being included as one of the nine.

"The committee believes that the rules committee should reflect that commitment akin to the federated structure," she said.

In the event the divisions remain divided, however, the issue would need to go to the Executive Committee for a resolution.