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DIII legislation slate taking shape

By Gary Brown
NCAA.org

Four of the five legislative proposals submitted by Division III conferences for this year’s legislative cycle received proper co-sponsorship by the Sept. 1 deadline.

Those proposals will join six others from the Division III governance structure to form the legislative slate for delegates to consider at the Division III business session Jan. 14, 2012, at the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis. 

One of the four properly sponsored membership proposals would regulate electronically transmitted correspondence (such as text messaging and instant messaging) between prospective student-athletes and college staff and coaches according to the same standard as telephone, email and fax correspondence.

That idea came originally from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and has since gained co-sponsorship from the Little East Conference. 

The SLIAC/Little East proposal includes lifting the prohibition on correspondence through social-networking platforms to align more with their Divisions I and II counterparts. The Division III Management Council is sponsoring a proposal that opens up electronic correspondence in recruiting but keeps the social-networking restrictions in place (the Presidents Council has endorsed this proposal). Both will be considered on the Convention floor.

The Management Council referred the SLIAC/Little East proposal to the Interpretations and Legislation Committee and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to recommend an official position.

Other properly sponsored membership proposals for the 2012 Convention are:

• One that seeks to keep student-athletes who have sustained a medically documented, season-ending injury from engaging with the team in any physical practice activities during the traditional season. If they do so, they would use a season of participation. Sponsors from the Midwest Conference and Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference submitted the proposal with student-athlete well-being in mind, arguing that student-athletes in such circumstances should be focused on their health and conditioning, not on improving skills or assisting their teams in practice. (The Management Council forwarded this proposal to the Academic Issues Subcommittee, the Interpretations and Legislation Committee, the Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to recommend an official position.)
• One from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference and the Commonwealth Coast Conference to exclude one postseason championship event from the declared playing and practice season. Current rules allow institutions to exempt participation in at least one postseason tournament from being counted against their maximum contest limits, but it must be counted within a school’s 18- or 19-week playing season. This proposal essentially combines the two. (The Management Council forwarded this proposal to the Interpretations and Legislation Committee, the Playing and Practice Seasons Subcommittee, the Championships Committee and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to recommend an official position.)
• One from the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference and the New England Collegiate Conference that would scale back activities that schools’ certified strength and conditioning personnel conduct during off days during the regular season. The proposal would also prohibit these voluntary workouts one day per week in the nontraditional segment and throughout the academic year. (The Management Council forwarded this proposal to the Interpretations and Legislation Committee, the Playing and Practice Seasons Subcommittee and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to recommend an official position.)

The only membership proposal that did not receive co-sponsorship and thus will not be heading to the Convention was from the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference and sought to eliminate the Regional Rules Seminar attendance requirement.

For a chart on all 10 membership- and governance-sponsored proposals, click here.