HUNTINGTON BEACH, California -- Like weary travelers on a long journey, the Division III Management Council has finally topped the hill, gaining a vantage point from which it can see the future of the division. The membership still needs to weigh in with formal votes at the 2004 Convention, but the vision is taking a recognizable shape.

The journey, which has lasted about a year and a half, has been guided by the Presidents Council/Management Council Joint Subcommittee on the Future of Division III, along with membership input through a survey and focus groups, but it began coming together at the Management Council's July 21-22 meeting. The Council reviewed several legislative proposals from the joint subcommittee's oversight group and forwarded a "reform" package of proposals to the Presidents Council. If the presidents approve the measures at their August 7 meeting, the proposals will come before the Division III membership for voting in January.

"The recommendations the Management Council has forwarded to the Presidents Council regarding the future of the division reflect a thorough examination of the Division III philosophy and a comparison of our practices with the philosophy," said Susan Bassett, chair of the Division III Management Council and director of athletics at William Smith College. "Through the survey process and the focus groups, the membership has really helped craft a future direction for the division."

Perhaps the most anticipated proposal is one that would create an annual reporting process that would examine and compare, on an institutional basis, financial aid awarded to student-athletes with that awarded to nonathletes. The reporting process would include a pilot for the entire membership next fall, while the actual process would begin in fall 2005. A version of the NCAA Compliance Assistant software likely will be used to facilitate reporting the data to the NCAA, though the details are still being resolved.

The other financial aid-related proposal would eliminate athletics funds or endowments, which have been permitted under an exception if the endowment had been received by the institution before 1979. Management Council members agreed that athletics endowments simply were not consistent with the Division III principle regarding the role of athletics in the institution, but Council members also realized that institutions might need time to contact donors and make different arrangements. For that reason, the proposal has a proposed effective date of August 1, 2008.

In what may prove to a controversial proposal, the Council agreed to endorse the elimination of financial aid awarded by Division III member institutions in sports classified in another division. In other words, Division III institutions that sponsor a Division I sport would be prohibited from offering athletics scholarships in those sports, though they could still maintain them at the Division I level otherwise. The proposal also would include an August 1, 2008, effective date to give affected schools adequate time to prepare for the implementation of the new requirement. The proposal currently would affect 12 sports sponsored at eight institutions.

The Council also endorsed several playing-and-practice-seasons proposals. One would limit the playing season to 18 weeks in fall sports and 19 weeks in winter and spring sports, while another would decrease the overall length and combined contest limits in the traditional and nontraditional segment by 10 percent. That proposal also would establish combined maximums, with caps, for both segments.

The Council also endorsed a proposal that would essentially eliminate the practice of "red-shirting" by limiting student-athletes to four seasons of participation, whether in practices or in games.

Also endorsed was a proposal to permit student-athletes to "self-release" to speak to athletics personnel at other institutions regarding transfers, while also strengthening the consequences for coaches and athletics administrators who speak to student-athletes at other institutions without permission.

Philosophy statement adjustments

The Council also agreed to forward two changes to the Division III philosophy statement, which each member institution agrees to uphold and review as part of its required institutional self-study process. The Council agreed to add language to "assure that athletics recruitment complies with the established policies and procedures applicable to the institutional admissions process." Council members agreed that this was one way of asking institutions to take responsibility for athletics recruiting and ensuring that athletics recruiting processes were reviewed on an institutional level without impeding institutional autonomy.

The Council also agreed to add language to the philosophy statement to encourage institutions and conferences to establish reasonable coaching and travel squad size limits to encourage sport equity. Again, adding the language to the philosophy statement would not legislate limits but rather would encourage institutions and conferences to review their practices and see if they were in line with Division III goals and ideals.

In related action, the Council adopted a resolution to continue to address issues related to membership growth as part of the division's ongoing strategic-planning process. The resolution will include the division's commitment to broad-based programs, appropriate championships access, postseason opportunities in lieu of championships, access to other NCAA programs and services, and the greater exercise of legislative autonomy by institutions and conferences.

Review has been thorough

Part of the reason the division set off on the journey of studying its future in the first place was a desire to ensure that its practices and philosophy were consistent. Some within the membership voiced concerns that Division III had moved, in many ways, away from its philosophy and toward practices that were inconsistent with its mission.

In general, most of the proposals ultimately recommended by the Management Council are an effort to reconcile practices with the philosophy. Thus, the Council is referring to the proposals as a "reform package."

The proposals reflect the five different areas the joint subcommittee examined closely over the past several months: financial aid, eligibility and recruiting, playing and practice seasons, championships, and membership.

Each topic area had a subgroup that closely examined ideas emanating out of a membership survey, four membership focus groups and additional input from the membership that subgroup members had gathered through conference visits and presentations. This spring, once results of the survey and then the focus groups had been compiled, each subgroup formulated recommendations for legislative and policy changes and forwarded them to the oversight group, which is composed of members of the Division III Management Council and Presidents Council. The oversight group, which met July 7 in Indianapolis, then forwarded its recommendations to the Management Council.

Other highlights

Division III Management Council
July 21-22/Huntington Beach, California

Approved a blanket waiver, for 2003-04 only, to permit institutions to count back from the first scheduled contest to determine their first permissible practice date, even if the first contest takes place during the weekend of August 29-31, 2003. The Council reaffirmed its commitment to the September 1 counting method for future years, regardless of when the first contest is held. The Council also noted that this particular calendar issue would occur again in 2007.

Approved clarifications recommended by the Division III Championships Committee of requirements conferences must meet to receive automatic qualification to Division III championships. (The clarifications were reported in the July 21 issue of The NCAA News.)

Approved the concept of applying automatic-qualification principles in the team/individual sports of cross country, golf and tennis, while maintaining individual competition in each of those championships. The Council noted implementation in those championships will not be financially feasible until at least the 2006-07 academic year, and agreed to work with the Championships Committee and the affected sports committees to develop legislation for membership consideration at the 2005 Convention.

Approved a "zero tolerance" policy recommended by the NCAA Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee banning offensive, profane, insulting or abusive language during Division III soccer regular season and championships. The policy would require the ejection of any player or bench personnel violating the ban. The policy must be approved by all three divisions and will be forwarded to the Association-wide Playing Rules Oversight Panel if the divisions disagree (the Division I Championship/Competition Cabinet previously voted against the proposed change).

Denied a request by Division III independent institutions to count all contests vs. other independents as in-region competition, but encouraged the institutions to pursue the opportunity to obtain a waiver of championships selection criteria effective in 2004-05 that will require 50 percent of contests to be scheduled against in-region competition.

Referred to the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee a proposed modification of Bylaw 15.4.3 that would prohibit an institution from providing verbal offers of financial aid to a prospective student-athlete before that prospect's acceptance for admission. Council members expressed concern about preventing students and their parents from obtaining an approximate idea of what type of aid may be available from an institution.

Approved recommendations from the Championships Committee to permit institutions the opportunity to purchase additional championships awards and to eliminate the week off between rounds of the Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.

Approved season-of-competition waiver opportunities for student-athletes called to active duty in the armed forces and who as a result miss part of a traditional or nontraditional playing season.

Approved the schedule for the 2004 Convention, noting an emphasis on tightening the schedule to encourage participation by chief executive officers and on providing opportunity for expanded conference/independent meetings and more dialogue regarding Future of Division III legislative proposals. Under the schedule, the Division III business session will occur over two days, beginning with a two-hour legislative issues forum on Sunday morning, January 11, and continuing with voting between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, January 12. The schedule also calls for the addition of a delegates' luncheon January 11.

Reviewed and approved the Division III strategic plan for 2003-04. The Council also discussed the Association-wide strategic-planning process and noted that it would be participating in that process while in Huntington Beach.

Denied a recommendation from the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee to eliminate financial support for the Boys' Sports Initiatives and reallocate the funds to enhance more successful diversity initiatives. Management Council members expressed concerns about the adverse impact on boys currently participating in the program, and also requested information from MOIC about alternative initiatives.

Granted active membership to Baptist Bible College (Pennsylvania), Becker College, D'Youville College, La Grange College, Louisiana College, New York City Technical College, Newbury College, Northland College, Piedmont College and Thomas College; also, approved active membership for Ursinus College in field hockey.

Reviewed proposed legislation for the 2004 Convention sponsored by the Division III Presidents Council, as well as membership-sponsored proposals for the Convention.

Participated July 20 in its annual joint meeting with the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Management Council and SAAC members exchanged views on Future of Division III legislative proposals during a series of roundtable discussions.

Elected Suzanne Coffey, director of athletics at Bates College, as Management Council chair for next year, succeeding Susan Bassett of William Smith College; also, elected Michael Miranda, faculty athletics representative at Plattsburgh State University of New York, to succeed Coffey as vice-chair.