REPORT OF THE
DIVISION III MEMBERSHIP
COMMITTEE
1.
ACTION ITEMS.
a. Waivers
of the NCAA Convention Attendance Requirement for Provisional Member Chief Executive
Officers (CEOs).
(1) Recommendation. Approve waivers of the Convention
attendance requirement for the CEOs from Dominican University and Huntingdon College.
(2) Rationale. The committee agreed to entertain
waivers of this requirement if a CEO was unable to attend. However, the committee also agreed that
waivers should only be granted if a senior-level institutional administrator
(e.g., dean of students, provost), preferably the individual to whom the athletics
department reports, attends the Convention in the CEO’s absence. Both requests satisfy this
provision.
b. Waiver
of Sports Sponsorship Requirements per NCAA Constitution 3.2.4.10.5.
(1) Recommendation. Approve a waiver of the sports
sponsorship requirement per Constitution 3.2.4.10.5 for men’s sports at
Emmanuel College.
(2) Rationale. The
institution is in the process of transitioning from single gender to
coeducational. During the 2001-02
academic year, approximately 100 men attend the institution. The committee agreed to grant this
waiver for the current academic year and, possibly, during the 2002-03 and
2003-04 academic years (school must reapply) but would not recommend granting
the waiver beyond that period of time.
This timeline is consistent with the three-year timeline set forth in
the recently adopted noncontroverisal legislation (NC-2 in the 2001 Convention
Official Notice). The school does
not meet that legislation in that the waiver was not applied for prior to
beginning the transition process.
c. Provisional
Member Violations.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor
noncontroverisal legislation to permit the committee to take more of an
"educational" approach rather than the perceived "punitive"
approach when reviewing instances of noncompliance by Division III provisional
members.
(2) Rationale. The creation of this legislation would give the committee options other than only "move forward" or "repeat." The committee can treat minor noncompliance issues as secondary violations and move the institution forward "with or without conditions." It also enables the committee to treat major noncompliance issues (or a pattern of minor issues) as a major violation and require the institution to repeat or be reclassified to corresponding membership. The committee thinks that the provisional membership process should be an educational process for the participant institutions. However, many provisional members view the process as punitive rather than educational. It should be noted that Division II has adopted similar legislation. The committee recommends that this legislation be applied to the first postmoratorium class of provisional membership. The committee has developed a list of “major” and “minor” violations that will assist the committee to make a determination as to the severity of the noncompliance.
d. Division
III Institution Revoking Multidivisional Classification – Modification Based on
Intent.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor intent-based legislation to
require a Division III institution revoking multidivisional classification
(moving one or more sports from Division I back to Division III) to complete a
two-year reclassification process prior to being eligible for competition in
Division III championships.
(2) Rationale. The legislation
clarifies that an institution currently holding multidivisional classification
with a sport in Division I or Division II would be required to complete a
two-year reclassification process prior to being eligible for the Division III
championship in that sport. This
recommendation is based on prior precedent and the intent of Bylaws 20.4 and
20.6.
e. Division
III Institution Revoking Multidivisional Classification – Timing of Two-Year
Reclassification Period – Ursinus College – Field Hockey.
(1) Recommendation. Prohibit Ursinus College from counting
the 2001-02 academic year as the first year of the two-year reclassification
period. (See Supplement No. 14.)
(2) Rationale. Ursinus has competed at the Division I level in the sport of field hockey for the past several years. On June 7, 2001, their Division I field hockey conference terminated its membership. This notification came after the June 1 deadline to notify the NCAA of a change of division. The institution asked that it be allowed to count the 2001-02 academic year as the first year of the two-year reclassification period because of the late notice of its conference’s decision. The committee did not feel sufficient evidence existed to grant this waiver. The institution competed in the Division I conference with a Division I schedule during the 2001 field hockey season. Further, the committee agreed that the two-year period permits the institution to operate its field hockey program as a Division III program philosophically and practically (e.g., recruiting Division III prospects, scheduling issues).
f. Entering
the Random Selection Process.
(1) Recommendation. Approve the principle that a school
that does not sponsor the minimum number of sports during the 2003-04 academic
year cannot be selected to start the provisional membership process until at
least the 2004-05 academic year and after completing one full year of competition
in the minimum number of sports sponsored.
(2) Rationale. The
committee was asked to decide whether a school that does not sponsor the minimum
number of sports at the time of the 2003 random selection process can enter the
2003 or 2004 random selection pool.
The committee agreed that a school cannot be placed in the random selection
pool until it has completed one full year of competition in the minimum number
of sports.
2. INFORMATIONAL
ITEM.
a. Educational
Sessions for Provisional Members. The committee has scheduled educational
sessions for year two, year three and year four provisional members at the 2002
Convention. These sessions are
designed for provisional member directors of athletics and cover Division III
legislation and provisional membership requirements. The year-four provisional members will be asked to provide
feedback on the current provisional membership process and ways it can be
improved. In addition, a session
for provisional member CEOs will be conducted during the Convention. This session will include participation
by four active member CEOs, all of whom are members of the Division III
Presidents Council and Division III Management Council.