Comments from Paul Risser, chair of the Division I Committee on Athletics Certification and chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education:

On the benefits of certification to the institution:

"There are many. One is obtaining a second opinion. Having served as a president at two universities, it gives great comfort to realize that a process as thorough as certification says your program is well- organized. Also, it helps the campus to understand intercollegiate athletics much better. We hear this on virtually every case. Faculty members go away with a better understanding of athletics, and donors and supporters also become stronger advocates for the program. Also, when it's done right, good ideas are shared, ideas that have worked well at other institutions."

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On efforts to streamline the process:

"What we've tried to do in the last 18 months is to make sure we focus on the health of the institution and to do that as cost-effectively as we can. The fact that we have uniform performance standards right now has solved lots of problems with consistency among peer-review teams. In the past, institutions weren't quite sure what it would take to satisfy the committee, so they just provided lots of information. Now, having performance standards, institutions know what they need to provide and they don't have to go through the guessing game."

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On cost concerns:

"I know the cost issue is raised occasionally and I know that the actual cost of certification is hard to quantify because different institutions involve a different number of individuals on their various committees. But it probably costs no more than $5,000 to $7,000 to do this, and when you realize that's once in 10 years, the cost is really pretty minimal. If you could pay $500 a year for an outside group to give you advice, you'd probably jump at the opportunity. I don't think that cost is a thoughtful argument."

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On the perceived overlap with institutional accreditation:

"Some institutions have asked to have their certification occur coincidentally with accreditation because they believe some of the information gathering is similar for both. We've allowed that. We've also had institutions that want to separate them. To me, accreditation is institution-wide, while certification is focused solely on athletics. While institutions have been allowed to make their own choice, the focused attention on athletics is not something you'd get from accreditation."