The Division II Membership Committee has recommended that the division adopt a tougher policy to deal with institutions that do not comply with the membership requirement to file an Institutional Self-Study Guide once every five years.

At its February 21-22 meeting in Indianapolis, the committee reviewed a list of 18 active members that have not filed an ISSG in more than a decade, despite repeated requests from the membership services staff.

The committee is recommending that the Management Council sponsor legislation for the 2006 Convention that would place on notice any institution that is late filing its ISSG. The Membership Committee is proposing that it would have the authority to withhold all or part of a noncompliant institution's share of the annual Division II enhancement fund.

The committee also is recommending that any institution failing to submit an ISSG one year after being notified of delinquency would be reclassified as a restricted member. Restricted membership provides any institution with one year to comply with the requirements of the division; if the requirements are not met within a year, the institution would be reclassified as a corresponding member.

Championship/membership issues

The committee also reviewed issues pertaining to championships selection that could adversely affect provisional members (see the accompanying table). At the moment, provisional members are not counted as Division II opponents in a number of championship-selection scenarios, no matter how far along that provisional member might be in the process. Specifically, games against provisional members do not count for an active member's strength-of-schedule index, for that institution's Division II won-lost record or for its in-region won-lost record.

The Membership Committee noted that these restrictions are creating an unnecessary hardship for some provisional members that already comply with Division II membership requirements. A number of them are having trouble scheduling contests against Division II opponents because the current active members believe that scheduling the provisional member may cost them a championship berth.

As a result of the discussion, the committee asked the Division II Championships Committee to consider the model that has been adopted in Division I, which allows games against provisional members to count for all championships-selection purposes as long as the provisional member is meeting the membership requirements of the division.

The Championships Committee will consider the change at its June meeting. No legislation would be required to modify the policy.

Subcommittees

The Membership Committee also formed a pair of task forces to deal with the retention of current members and the possible acquisition of new members.

The Retention Task Force -- which will be chaired by Tom Shirley, director of athletics at Philadelphia University -- is expected to develop a survey instrument that will assess, perhaps annually, what current Division II members like about the division and what they would like to see changed. The committee also will closely consider the results of the research commissioned by the Division II Presidents Council that will assess the experiences of institutions that have reclassified their programs to Division I. In fact, the committee's next meeting will be in Orlando, Florida, immediately in advance of the June 24-26 CEO Leadership Summit, where the research will be made public.

Besides Shirley, other members of the task force will be Mary Gardner, athletics director at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Tom Kearns, faculty athletics representative at Northern Kentucky University; Mike Marcil, commissioner of the Sunshine State Conference; and Tim Selgo, athletics director at Grand Valley State University.

The other group, the New Member Task Force, will target institutions that it believes may be good fits for Division II membership. The task force, which will be chaired by Don Landry, the former commissioner of the Sunshine State Conference, will be especially aware of geographic areas where Division II membership is deficient.

Other members of the New Member Task Force are David Brunk, commissioner of the Northeast-10 Conference; Mike Covone, athletics director at Barry University; Joan McDermott, athletics director at Metropolitan State College of Denver; and Bob Oliver, commissioner of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

At its most recent meeting, the Membership Committee was joined by Steve Mallonee, NCAA managing director of membership services/Division I governance liaison and liaison to the Division I Management Council Membership Subcommittee. The committee thought that Mallonee's presence helped achieve a better understanding of a number of issues that overlap Divisions I and II. The Division II group hopes that chair Herb Reinhard, director of athletics at Valdosta State University, can attend the Division I membership meeting this summer and that the committees can work jointly to address relevant issues.

Other highlights

Division II Membership Committee
February 21-22 / Indianapolis

• Agreed that there should be no eligibility ramifications for an individual student-athlete if an institution incorrectly certifies that the athlete has health insurance coverage as required by Bylaw 3.2.4.9. Improper certification of health insurance is an institutional issue that must be reported to the NCAA.

• Agreed that the new June membership application deadline will make it possible to move the orientation session for presidents of new member institutions up to July. Because the orientation session currently occurs after the school year begins, some new members occasionally encounter avoidable rules compliance issues (for example, failure to make certain that student-athletes have registered with the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse).

• Denied a request by a member institution planning to reclassify to Division I-AA to increase its number of football equivalencies from 36 to 60 by this spring. The committee noted that the institution continues to be a Division II member during the exploratory year and that it would violate Division II financial aid rules if it exceeded 36 equivalencies and then chose not to move to Division I.

• Noted that two Division II conferences have expanded their membership with new members that have not met Division II requirements. The committee agreed that to be considered as a member of a Division II conference, an institution must be a reclassifying member or a new member that has successfully completed its first year of provisional membership.