A growing concern resulting from Division III’s vote in 2007 to more aggressively monitor institutions’ compliance with membership standards prompted the Division III Management Council this week to request a review of the current penalty structure.

The 2007 legislation introduced an audit process and stricter monitoring of compliance with such membership standards as minimum sport-sponsorship and student-athlete participation requirements, while introducing new requirements to annually attend the NCAA Convention and attend a Regional Rules Seminar at least once every three years.

The Division III Membership Committee, in its role of monitoring compliance with the standards, makes recommendations to the Management Council about whether an institution should be placed on probation for failure to comply with a membership requirement.

Under a previously existing penalty structure, an institution’s first failure to comply with any of the standards has resulted in a 10-year probation period, during which a second failure can result in restricted membership – an action that includes the loss of such membership benefits as access to championships and grant funds.  A third violation during that period results in the institution being placed in corresponding membership.

Now, the Management Council – concerned that some violations may be either less serious or more preventable than others, and that the only options are to impose the 10-year probation or no penalty at all – is asking the Membership Committee to study whether a more flexible penalty structure may be appropriate.

Council members suggested that a sliding scale of penalties – including shorter probation periods – may be appropriate, giving the Membership Committee and the Council more flexibility in addressing a failure to comply with a membership requirement, or to credit institutional efforts to anticipate or prevent such a violation.

The possibility of reviewing the penalty structure also was raised in one of the Division III Presidents Council’s recent “white papers” on membership issues. The paper, addressing sports sponsorship and membership requirements, proposed giving “top priority” in the penalty structure to fulfilling sport-sponsorship requirements.

In a separate discussion, the Council considered whether current economic conditions are making it too difficult for institutions to meet increased sports-sponsorship requirement beginning in August 2010. That is when the current sponsorship requirement of 10 sports increases to 12 sports for institutions with an undergraduate enrollment of at least 1,000 students.

The increase was adopted by the membership in 2006, to support the division’s philosophy that institutions’ athletics programs should offer a broad variety of sports.

After reviewing the status of approximately 30 institutions that currently do not meet the 12-sport requirement, the Council agreed with the Membership Committee that most of those institutions appear to be making progress toward meeting the new standard, and decided it is not necessary to delay the effective date of the requirement.

However, anticipating the possibility that schools may seek a waiver or delay in implementation of the requirement based on financial hardship in the current economic climate, the Membership Committee asked the Council for guidance on how to treat such requests.

Council members directed the committee to determine whether an institution seeking a waiver clearly can demonstrate the impact of economic conditions on its efforts to meet the requirement. The Council also determined that an institution seeking a waiver should be able to demonstrate how much time it will need to meet the sport-sponsorship requirement, and present an acceptable plan for achieving that goal.

Other highlights

In other actions during its April 20-21 meeting in Indianapolis, the Council:

•         Supported a $2 per diem increase to $80 for championships participants during the second year of the current two-year budget cycle, as well as funding for additional coaches or staff members to accompany larger travel parties in individual/team sports, and an increase to eight in the squad size for teams participating in the Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships. The Presidents Council must approve the requests totaling more than $400,000 – all to be funded from the inflation-based increase previously approved for the second year of the 2008-10 biennial budget or from reallocation of unused funds – at its April 30 meeting.

•         Received a report from the Division III Championships Committee about its plans to implement a mix of procedural steps designed to address errors in collection of data for use in championships selection and educational efforts it will conduct to improve sports committees’ and the membership’s understanding of the selection process.

•         Supported the Membership Committee’s recommendation that the Presidents Council approve active conference membership for the Midwest Lacrosse Conference and Eastern Collegiate Football Conference, effective September 1.

•         Granted the Championships Committee final authority over appointment of members of sports committees, rather than requiring approval by the Management Council or the Division III Administrative Committee, in order to shorten the appointment process. The Council will monitor trends in appointments and may seek procedural changes in the process if deemed appropriate.