REPORT OF THE NCAA
DIVISION III
COMMITTEE ON
STUDENT-ATHLETE REINSTATEMENT
ACTION ITEMS.
1. Policies and
Procedures.
Recommendation. Approve two amendments to the
committee’s policies and procedures.
a. An amendment to
indicate that for the purpose of fulfilling a reinstatement withholding
condition, the contest(s) must occur during the traditional season (i.e.,
championship segment), and the contests must be considered for the team’s NCAA
championship selection.
b. Refinement of
reconsideration procedures.
Subsequent to the committee's appeal decision, an institution may
request that the staff reconsider its initial decision if the institution
submits newly discovered information that existed at the time of the decision
but was not available to the institution or the student-athlete. If the institution then seeks to have
the committee review the staff’s decision it may appeal. This amendment will provide greater
clarity to the membership.
Rationale. The change in language will provide greater
clarification to the membership as to which contests may be used to fulfill a
reinstatement condition.
Specifically, using only contests considered for team selection for NCAA
Championships will establish greater consistency and equity between team and
individual sports. The changes to
the reconsideration policy are a clarification as opposed to a modification of
the existing procedure.
Budget
Impact. None.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.
1. Directives. The committee discussed whether it
would continue to issue directives.
The committee concluded that it would continue to issue directives since
directives are key components of its goal of being responsive to the
membership. Specifically,
directives provide the membership with a summary of key actions by the
committee to codify case precedent or to highlight a shift in case
precedent. Directives are listed
on the student-athlete reinstatement Web site and published in The NCAA News.
2. Academic
Fraud Directive. The committee
reviewed its December 2000 directive regarding student-athletes who engage in
academic fraud under NCAA Bylaw 10.1 (Unethical Conduct). Specifically, the committee directed
the staff not to reinstate student-athletes in cases involving academic fraud. The
committee noted that although this was a serious reinstatement decision, these
types of violations should be dealt with harshly, and the committee was
available to provide relief, if appropriate.
3. Withholding
Condition Directive for Sports that Utilize Dates of Competition and Maximum
Contest Limitations. NCAA
contest limitation legislation permits certain sports (e.g., soccer, field
hockey) to engage in a maximum number of dates of competition during the
nontraditional season and a maximum number of contests during the championship
season. Such legislation provides
institutions with greater flexibility since an institution could engage in
several contests on a specific date during the nontraditional season. The staff requested clarification from
the committee on what the appropriate reinstatement condition is for
student-athletes who engage in multiple contests on a single date during the
nontraditional season. The
committee directed the staff to count each permissible date of competition as
one contest. Thus, a student-athlete
who competed in four contests on two dates of competition would be reinstated
after being withheld from the next two regular-season contests during the
championship or traditional season since reinstatement conditions may only be
fulfilled during the championship season.
4. Applying
Withholding Condition for Team/Individual Sports. At its June 2001 meeting, the committee reviewed a proposal put forward
by the staff to amend the policies regarding the application of a withholding
condition to state the following:
[The
competition must be a regular-season competition (i.e., used to calculate the
Rating Percentage Index for postseason competition in the sport), which does
not include scrimmages or exhibitions.
In the sport of tennis, which has both individual and team competitions,
only championship-season team competitions can be used to fulfill a
condition.]
The staff
reported on discussions with the championships staff in an effort to develop a
better understanding of the distinctions between individual and team
championships and the selection process for both. Although sports vary in exactly which events are considered
in each individual and team championships selection process, the number of individual
events is limited under Bylaw 17 (Playing and Practice Seasons), and events are
identified and scheduled as team competitions with team scoring that counts
toward team championship consideration.
The team competitions appear to be most similar to the contests
considered regularly scheduled for all team sport participants and have less
flexibility in scheduling.
For purposes of fulfilling a reinstatement
condition, the committee determined that the competition must be regular-season
competition during the championship segment, and the contests must be
considered when the team is evaluated for championship selection. The committees also decided to send the
report to the sport committees requesting feedback.
5. Reinstatement
Requests Involving Bylaw 14.01.3 (Compliance with Other NCAA and Conference
Legislation). There are two
categories of cases processed involving this bylaw:
(a) The first category
concerns the certification process where a student-athlete competes and would
be considered otherwise eligible, but the institution or conference certification
process was not completed, the student-athlete was not included on the
eligibility roster or squad list, or forms were not completed. The staff has reinstated those student-athletes
within this category of violation without condition because the institution/conference
failed to complete the necessary paperwork, but the student-athlete was
otherwise eligible.
(b) The second category concerns those circumstances where
a student-athlete does not meet an institutional or conference regulation,
which results in the student-athlete being ineligible for competition. In this category, the staff has
withheld student-athletes on a one-for-one basis or noted the use of a season
if the student-athlete competed in less than 50 percent of the season.
The
committee discussed the reinstatement conditions and confirmed that the staff
is applying the appropriate withholding condition for violations of Bylaw
14.01.3 (Compliance with Other NCAA and Conference Legislation).