PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island -- Division II finally reached the finish line on its five-year series of legislative deregulation summits with a July 17 analysis of Bylaws 12 and 16.

But the finish line might not be the end of the line.

The Division II Legislation Committee, which has conducted a deregulation summit each year since 1998, believes that at least one additional meeting is necessary to make certain that it has accomplished its mission of eliminating as much extraneous material as possible from the Division II Manual while simultaneously increasing the utility of the book.

"The committee believes we need at least one more meeting in which we would bring constituent groups back for follow-up and ask 'What did we miss?' " said Paul Engelmann, chair of the Legislation Committee and faculty athletics representative at Central Missouri State University.

But it could be that more bylaws need to be examined before the follow-up takes place. In particular, the Legislation Committee believes that the division would benefit from a review of Manual sections dealing with governance (Constitution 4 and 5 and Bylaw 21), membership (Constitution 3 and Bylaw 20) and championships (Bylaws 18 and 30). The Management Council, noting that funding exists to conduct at least one more summit, recommended July 22 that the Presidents Council authorize continuation of the summit for another year.

Over the years, the deregulation summit program has brought relevant membership groups together to discuss the bylaws that most affect member institutions on a day-to-day basis. The Legislation Committee has filtered the recommendations and then proposed legislation that has been evaluated by the Management and Presidents Councils. In most cases, the recommendations have been submitted to the membership for consideration at the NCAA Convention about 18 months later. For example, the Legislation Committee reviewed Bylaw 14 in July 2001; the membership will vote on the recommended changes at the January 2003 Convention.

This time, the bylaws under consideration prompted less discussion than others that had gone before them. The sequence always had been arranged to put what was perceived to be the least urgent review, Bylaw 16 (benefits), at the rear of the process. As for Bylaw 12 (amateurism), most of the heavy work was accomplished at the 2001 Convention when the division altered its philosophy regarding amateurism for pre-enrolled students.

Amateurism

With Bylaw 12, the question now has less to do with eliminating unnecessary sections or identifying duplications than it does with arranging the legislation in a more user-friendly fashion.

When Division II revised its approach to amateurism in 2001, it structured the changes in a way that frequently co-mingled the standards for pre-enrolled and post-enrolled student-athletes. The new approach to amateurism still seems to be widely accepted within the division -- but it may be confusing for administrators to apply because of the way the provisions are structured.

"Amateurism regulations are now quite different for pre-initial collegiate enrollment and post-initial collegiate enrollment," said Tony Capon, faculty athletics representative at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, and a member of the Amateurism Project Team. "But Bylaw 12 mixes pre-enrollment and post-enrollment, with lists of permitted and prohibited activities and exceptions to each.

"While I know what it's supposed to say, if I read through the bylaw, I'm not sure I can explain it. It's very difficult for the compliance staff to deal with," Capon said.

In the alternative, one solution might be to structure Bylaw 12 to create sections that would stipulate what is permissible for pre-enrolled student-athletes and what is permissible for post-enrolled student-athletes. While it may be a good approach, it may be a challenge to implement because of an agreement among the three divisions about the way that legislation is to be codified (legislation is to be numbered so that the numbers are common two decimals out -- for example, Bylaw 12.5.1.x.x.x -- to ease reference among the divisions).

Otherwise, the deregulation summit suggestions regarding Bylaw 12 were small -- whether a 100-mile radius restriction in 12.5.1(f) is necessary, whether a provision pertaining to camps in 12.5.1.7 should specify "summer" camps or whether it's possible to state more succinctly that student-athletes may not endorse products.

Benefits

The appeal for brevity for legislation pertaining to product endorsements came from the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was similar to the principal thought involving Bylaw 16. While a number of ideas were advanced about Bylaw 16 (most notably, whether dollar limits recognizing special attainment constitute an unnecessary compliance burden), the overriding theme had to with whether the bylaw is simply overwritten. Throughout the bylaw (complimentary admissions and ticket benefits, academic and other support services, medical expenses, housing and meals, expenses for a student-athlete's friends and relatives, and team entertainment expenses provided by the institution for practice and competition), considerable detail is provided about what is permissible and what is impermissible.

The student-athletes asked why it wouldn't be better simply to describe what is permissible and then operate with the understanding that everything else is not permissible. The Legislation Committee noted that a similar approach was taken with the deregulation of Bylaw 13.

Other sections of the Division II Manual -- not just Bylaws 13 and 16 -- contain "permissible" and "impermissible" uses of legislation, so the advisability of that approach throughout the Manual may be an issue in need of further review. Moreover, segments of the membership believe that such specificity may be desirable. People in that camp likely will want an opportunity to revisit deregulated material to determine if the Manual has become more open to abuse.

Add it all together and it sounds like another study for another day. Assuming that the Presidents Council agrees to continue the summits, that day will come as early as next summer.