Division III Presidents Council Endorses Further Study of Ideas Generated from the Future of Division III - Phase II Initiative

INDIANAPOLIS---The Division III Presidents Council endorsed for further study a list of ideas generated from the Future of Division III – Phase II initiative during its meeting April 28 in Indianapolis.

Included in the list are suggestions for addressing membership growth, reviewing conference alignment, seeking sport equity and promoting student-athlete academic success and campus involvement.

A few of the ideas presented by the Future of Division III--Phase II Oversight Group would require membership approval of legislation, and many would be achieved through educational or informative efforts, such as creation of “best practices” guides.

Among ideas addressing membership growth are:

• Capping team sport championship brackets – some of which currently are threatening to grow to an unmanageable or undesirable size because of Division III’s growth – at 64 teams.
• Explore specific ways to ease reclassification to NCAA Division II, giving attention to minimizing adverse effects on student-athletes who aspire to championship competition.
• Consider increasing minimum sports-sponsorship requirements, but also consider alternative ways by which smaller institutions may be able to demonstrate a commitment to Division III’s philosophy of broad-based participation.

Regarding conference alignment, ideas include:

• Creating a Conference Self-Study Guide to prompt institutions to discuss philosophical and other reasons (such as institutional missions, academic profiles, geographic proximity and similarity of athletics programs) for maintaining affiliation in a conference.
• Consider permitting – as an outcome of conference self-study and for a limited period of time – realignment of conferences without loss of automatic qualification.

Ideas involving sport equity include:

• Exploring ways to promote equality in an institution’s treatment of sports.
• Enhancing recruitment of minority student-athletes, coaches and staff.

Means of promoting academic success and campus involvement include:

• Amending the Division III philosophy statement to specify an expectation that student-athletes’ academic performance should be, at a minimum, consistent with the general student body (and also to specify that student-athletes should be admitted to institutions in a manner consistent with other students).
• List “best practices” for ensuring that athletics is an integral part of institutions and that student-athletes and coaches are integrally involved in campus life.

During the next three months, those ideas and others will be discussed further at various Division III committee meetings, membership seminars and conference gatherings, and also by the division’s Virtual Focus Groups.  The ideas – as well as reactions gathered in those various settings – also will be discussed by the Division III Management Council at its July meeting in Anaheim, California.

In other actions, the Presidents Council approved reallocating funds to support various strategic initiatives for the 2005-06 budget year, and authorized continuing discussion for 2006-07 of a conference grant program that would give Division III conferences more authority and discretion over how Division III strategic-initiatives funds are used.

A complete report of the Division III Presidents Council’s meeting will appear in the May 9 issue of The NCAA News.