REPORT OF THE
NCAA DIVISION III
STUDENT-ATHLETE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ACTION ITEMS.
1. Legislative
Action Items.
a. 2007
Convention Legislation – Bylaw 14.2.4.1, Seasons of Participation.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor legislation for the 2007
Convention to amend NCAA Bylaw 14.2.4.1 to allow an exception to the minimum
amount of participation during the nontraditional season.
(2) Effective
date.
(3) Rationale.
Currently, a student-athlete would
use a season of participation if he or she practices in the traditional season,
does not continue to practice after the first contest but then practices again
in the nontraditional season.
However, a student who was not involved in any athletics activity in the
traditional season and decides to practice in the nontraditional season would
not use a season of participation provided he or she does not continue to
practice after the nontraditional contest.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee believes that practice only
during the nontraditional season should not impact the student-athlete’s
seasons of participation. Based on
the aforementioned scenarios, the seasons of participation regulations are
difficult to monitor and are treating student-athletes differently based on
limited practice prior to the first contest in the traditional season. During the nontraditional season, a
student-athlete should have the choice if he or she wants to only practice
during these limited 16 practice opportunities without jeopardizing a season of
participation.
(4) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(5)
Student-Athlete
Impact. Allows a student-athlete the chance to
have very limited practice opportunities without the consequence of using a
season of participation.
b. 2007
Convention Legislation – Bylaw 17.02.1.1, Athletically Related
Activities.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor legislation for the 2007
Convention to amend NCAA Bylaw 17.02.1.1 to allow exceptions to the definition
of athletically related activities to exclude fund-raising activities and
community service projects.
(2) Effective
date.
(3) Rationale.
Based on the current definition,
practice has occurred if an activity has an athletics purpose held for one or
more student-athletes at the direction of, or supervised by, any member of the
institution’s coaching staff.
Per this definition, a fund-raising activity or community service
project would trigger the definition of practice which means that
student-athletes could not engage in these activities outside their playing
season. The Division III
environment is one that student-athlete’s activities are conducted as an
integral part of the student-athlete’s educational experience and that
athletic participants are not treated differently from other members of the
student body. Fund-raising and
community service are activities that all institutional clubs and organizations
are involved with. Student-athletes
should be treated the same as the student body and be permitted to raise funds
and participate in community service projects with their athletics teams
without being regulated by NCAA rules. The committee notes that a fund-raising
activity designed to use the participants athletic skills (e.g., celebrity
basketball game) should not be permitted outside the playing season.
(4) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(5) Student-Athlete
Impact. Allows student-athletes
the opportunity to engage in activities that all Division III students are
afforded.
c. 2007
Convention Legislation – Fund-raisers for Student-Athletes.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor legislation for the 2007
Convention to permit institutions to provide or arrange for fund-raisers for
student-athletes involved with an amateur outside sports team or organization.
(2) Effective
date.
(3)
Rationale. Many
Division III student-athletes are involved with outside sports teams or
organizations (e.g., Athletes in Action) that offer not only an athletics
experience but also cultural and educational experiences. Student-athletes participating on these
outside sports teams are asked to raise the majority of funds to cover expenses
(
(4) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(5)
Student-Athlete
Impact. Allows student-athletes the opportunity
to engage in activities that all Division III students are afforded.
d. 2007
Convention Legislation – Telephone Call Limits.
(1) Recommendation. Sponsor legislation for the 2007
Convention to limit the number of telephone calls an athletics department
representative and enrolled student-athletes can make to a prospective
student-athlete. Thus, such
individuals shall not make telephone calls more than once per week to a
prospect.
(2) Effective
date.
(3) Rationale. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
believes there should be parameters on telephone calls to prospective
student-athletes. It appears that
Division III coaches are calling prospects numerous times throughout a
week. These calls can be
distressing especially if more than one coach is calling throughout that week. One NCAA principle (Constitution 2.11)
notes that “the recruiting process involves a
balancing of the interests of prospective student-athletes, their educational institutions
and the Association’s member institutions. Recruiting regulations shall
be designed to promote equity among member institutions in their recruiting of
prospects and to shield them from undue pressures that may interfere with the
scholastic or athletics interests of the prospects or their educational
institutions.” The Division
III membership should adhere to this principle by regulating these undue
pressures placed on prospective student-athletes.
(4) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(5) Student-Athlete
Impact. Allows prospective
student-athletes to pursue their academic and athletic chooses without the
undue pressures of the recruiting process.
e. Constitution
4.7.2.1 – Management Council Composition - Exception –
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
(1) Recommendation. Waive the application of Constitution
4.7.2 for a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member to serve on the
Management Council.
(2) Rationale. A representative of a playing conference
whose term of service has expired shall not be replaced on the Management
Council by a representative of the same conference. This regulation may be waived for the
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative. SAAC appointed Kayla Hinkley,
Commonwealth Coast Conference to serve on the Management Council starting
January 2007.
(3) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(4) Student-Athlete
Impact. None.
2. Nonlegislative
Items.
a. Division
III Drug Testing Pilot.
(1) Recommendation. Institute a two-year drug-testing and
education pilot in Division III.
(2) Rationale. The committee believes drug testing would promote student-athlete
well-being and help deter student-athletes from taking banned substances. The
committee stressed the need for education in conjunction with the drug-testing
program and the need for penalties for failed drug test results. However, the committee noted the
two-year drug testing pilot should not include penalties.
(3) Estimated
Budget Impact. $400,000.
(4) Student-Athlete
Impact. The NCAA effort to
deter sports performance drug use will be enhanced by adding drug testing of
Division III student-athletes.
b.
Male Practice Players.
(1) Recommendation. Establish the following criteria
for the use of male practice players in Division III.
·
Male practice
players must be NCAA certified to participate;
·
Male practice
players should be afforded appropriate medical coverage;
·
Male practice
players should only be allowed in the traditional season;
·
Male practice
players shall use a season of eligibility in the appropriate sport should they
continue to practice after the first contest of the traditional season;
·
The usage of
male practice players should be restricted to one practice a week; and
·
The number of
male practice players allowable for each sport should not exceed half of the
number required to field a starting unit in that sport.
(2) Rationale. The committee is committed to providing
equitable practice opportunities for female student-athletes as part of its
philosophy. Should a women’s
athletic team be unable to field a number of female players appropriate for
adequate competition during practice, the use of male practice players would be
an appropriate remedy to this problem.
Division III institutions might be unable to have enough female players
to make two full-size squads to scrimmage each other in practice, and male practice
players could assist in filling in these numbers. By completely restricting or denying
institutions the use of these male practice players, opportunities would be
taken away from the female student-athletes, namely competing in practice
against a full squad. Should
individual conferences or campuses not see this as a problem, it is still at
their discretion whether or not to permit their use.
(3) Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
(4) Student-Athlete
Impact. Opportunities for
female student-athletes to compete against full-size squads.
c. Division
III Sportsmanship Initiative.
(1) Recommendation. Approve the SAAC marketing initiative to
distribute two banners, two posters and one CD per institution.
(2) Rationale. In April the Management Council approved
the SAAC initiative to promote sportsmanship by increasing awareness and promote positive actions among Division III
coaches, student-athletes and fans. The Council asked for a marketing plan to
include promotion costs for banners and posters to distribute to the
membership. SAAC has partnered with the Division III Commissioners to provide
each institution with best practices and resources to promote sportsmanship and
positive actions.
(3) Estimated
Budget Impact. $48,000.00
(4) Student-Athlete
Impact. The visibility of
banners and posters will promote sportsmanship and positive actions.
d. Nominating
Process.
(1) Recommendation. Support
and refer the committee’s request to conduct telephone interviews of
potential SAAC candidates to the Division III Nominating Committee.
(2) Rationale. Student-athlete representatives are
selected by SAAC from a slate of nominees, subject to review by the Division
III Nominating Committee and ratification by the Division III Management
Council. SAAC believes a better
candidate can be selected if the committee were permitted to ask the nominees
questions regarding their ability to serve on the committee.
(3) Budget
Impact. None.
(4) Student-Athlete
Impact. Ensures qualified
student-athletes serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.
1.
Noncontroversial Legislation––Bylaw
14.4.3.4.4 (Prior Approval). The committee opposes the Interpretation and Legislation
Committee’s (ILC) recommendation to amend Bylaw 14.4.3.4.4 to eliminate
the requirement that a student-athlete receive prior
approval for summer
courses completed at other
institutions to use the credits to meet satisfactory academic progress. The committee believes that current legislation requiring prior approval of
summer courses protects a student-athlete from enrolling in a course at another
institution which may impact a student-athlete’s satisfactory
progress. Not all institutions have
policies and procedures requiring student-athletes to seek approval for a
summer course at another institution.
Therefore, under NCAA legislation the student-athlete has such
protection if institutional regulations do not exist.
2.
2007 NCAA Convention Legislation – NCAA
Constitution 5.3.4.1 (Amendment) and 5.3.4.2 (Amendment-to-Amendment). The
committee supports ILC’s recommendation to amend Constitution 5.3.4.1 and
5.3.4.2 to increase the threshold for membership-sponsored proposals with the recommendation that ILC reconsider
the number of institutions from 20 to 16 active member institutions or member
conferences representing 16 active member institutions. The committee is in agreement
with ILC’s rationale to increase the membership proposal threshold in
order to improve the quality of legislative concepts submitted for membership
vote; however, the committee believes the threshold increase should accurately reflect the average size of two
Division III conferences. A
threshold of 16 institutions better represents such sponsorship.
3. Noncontroversial
Legislation – Bylaw 17.11.2.3 (five-day acclimatization period). The committee
opposes the Championships Committee’s recommendation to amend Bylaw
17.11.2.3 to permit the use of walkthroughs during the five-day acclimatization
period for football. The
establishment of one-hour walkthroughs will place an additional hour on a
football student-athlete’s practice day at a time when these
student-athletes need necessary down time to recover from the previous three
hours of practice. This would equal
four hours of practice during the acclimatization period plus the additional
time student-athletes are viewing film, participating in voluntary strength
activities and athletic training room treatments. The additional hour walkthrough would be
too strenuous for a football student-athlete during the five-day
acclimatization period taking into account the additional time needed for the
practice preparation.
4. Division
III Membership Community Outreach – Habitat International. The
committee reviewed a draft timeline outlining the committee’s
responsibilities to complete the national Habitat for Humanity initiative over
the 2006-07 academic year. The committee
also developed a chart designed to offer community service suggestions for
conferences and campuses that will be added to the SAAC Manual and posted on
the Web site.
5. Nomination
of New Committee Member. The committee nominated the Great Northeast Athletic
Conference nominee, Ashley Snell from
6. Conference
Partnership Program. Due to recent conference realignment,
the partnership program has been updated.
Changes include Great South Athletic Conference partnering with USA
South Athletic Conference and the Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference
(AWCC) partnered with the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. This will be the last year the AWCC will
exist. As such, there appears to be
a conference emerging out of the Middle Atlantic States Conference which will
take the AWCC’s place in the partnership program.
7. SAAC Vice-Chair and Management Council
Representatives. The committee appointed Doug Tima,
8. SAAC Representatives on
Division III and Association-wide Committees. The committee appointed the following members to
serve on Division III and Association-wide committees:
·
·
Alecia Weddle,
·