REPORT OF THE

NCAA DIVISION III NOMINATING COMMITTEE

 

 

1.      ACTION ITEMS.

 

a.      Committee Appointments.

 

Recommendation.  Approve the following committee appointments.  Terms begin September 1, 2004, unless otherwise noted.  [Attachment A]

 

(1)        Division III Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee (immediate vacancy):  Chuck Lindemenn, commissioner, Northwest Conference, replacing Shawn Eichorst.

 

(2)        Committee on Women’s Athletics:  Jenny Warmack-Chipman, senior woman administrator/head volleyball coach, Muhlenberg College.

 

b.      Regional and Gender Requirements for Division III General Committees.

        

(1)     Recommendation.  Amend the following bylaws (composition requirements) to reduce the legislated regional and gender requirements:

 

(a)     Division III Championships Committee -- NCAA Bylaw 21.8.6.2.1 – The Championships Committee shall consist of nine members, including the chair of the Management Council and two other Management Council members.  The committee shall include at least four three men, at least four three women, at least one student-athlete and at least one member of an ethnic minority.  At least two one committee members shall represent each of the four regions specified in Constitution 4.12.1.1.  Terms of the Management Council members shall coincide with their terms on that body.

 

(b)     Division III Committee on Infractions – Bylaw 21.8.6.4.1 – The committee shall be composed of five members.  At least one of the positions shall be allocated for a member of an ethnic minority.  Two One positions shall be allocated for a men man and two one for a women woman.

 

(c)     Division III Membership Committee – Bylaw 21.8.6.8.1 – The mMembership cCommittee shall consist of nine members.  One shall be a Management Council member, at least one shall be an faculty athletics representative, at least one shall be a senior women woman administrator, at least one shall be a conference administrator and at least one shall be a member of an ethnic minority.  At least two one members shall be appointed from each of the four geographical regions per Constitution 4.12.21.21.

 

(d)     Division III Nominating Committee – Bylaw 21.8.6.9.1 – The Nominating Committee shall consist of eight members, including at least two former NCAA officers or former members of the NCAA Council or Management Council, one current member of the Management Council, and one chief executive officer who is a current or former member of the Management Council.  A maximum of four members may be at large.  The committee shall include at least four three men, at least four three women, and at least one member of an ethic minority.  At least one member shall be appointed from each of the four geographical regions per Constitution 4.12.1.1.

 

(e)     Division III Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee – Bylaw 21.8.6.3.1 – The committee shall be composed of six members, including one member from the Management Council and one student-athlete who shall be a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  The committee shall include at least two men, at least two women, and Aat least one of the positions shall be allocated for a member of an ethnic minority.

 

(2)     Rationale.  The committee is requesting the reduction of gender and regional requirements in order to assist with maintaining compliance with the legislation.  It has been necessary in the past to count the Management Council representatives in the gender and regional requirements.  These strict requirements have, at times, limited the Management Council representatives who could serve or has caused the committee not to meet the legislated requirements.  These changes would ease this situation while still maintaining balanced committee representation.

 

         During its review of the composition bylaws, the committee also noted some inconsistencies in the legislation and the changes above reflect the recommendations of the committee.  In particular, the committee recommends that the Membership Committee include a legislated position for a conference administrator since conferences are involved in membership issues.  The committee also recommends the elimination of the Nominating Committee requirement that the chief executive officer (CEO) be a current or former member of the Management Council.  The committee believes this requirement is not an essential criterion for the CEO member since the committee composition already includes two former officers or Council members.

 

c.      Reinstatement of Districts Legislation.

 

(1)     Recommendation.  Adopt noncontroversial legislation to reinstate the districts legislation that last appeared in the 2000-01 NCAA Manual (Attachment B).

 

(2)     Rationale.  Reinstatement of the legislated districts will assist with determining eligibility and committee appointments for those committees whose legislated composition is determined by districts, primarily sports rules committees.  The reinstatement of the districts legislation was adopted by the Division I Management Council in October 2003.


2.      INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.

 

a.      Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee terms.  The committee reviewed the three-year term limit for Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members.  The committee determined that it would not recommend any changes to the term limits at this time.  In addition, the committee made the following recommendations:

 

(1)     All institutions should be encouraged to submit SAAC nominations when appropriate vacancies exist.  Solicitation notices will be sent to the conference commissioners, directors of athletics, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives and campus SAAC advisors.

 

(2)     Conference offices should communicate with the SAAC liaisons if there are communication issues between SAAC members and their conferences and partner conferences.

 

(3)     A notice should be sent to conference offices reminding them that the NCAA will provide reimbursement for expenses for SAAC members to attend conference and partner-conference meetings.

 

b.      Online nomination process.  The committee reviewed the online nominations process and requested that staff:

 

(1)          Include information on specific committee Web pages detailing committee duties, anticipated meeting dates and committee service time commitments.

 

(2)          Include a link to the committee Web page and the staff liaison’s e-mail when soliciting nominees.

 

(3)     Include a checkbox on the online form indicating that the nominee has reviewed the committee’s duties and responsibilities prior to submitting nomination materials.

 

(4)     Forward vacancy notifications to sports committee members to assist with soliciting nominations.

 

Committee chair:  Karen Johnson, Alfred University, Empire 8

Staff Liaison:         Sharon Tufano, committee coordinator