April 2007 Management Council agenda

Review 2007 NCAA Convention Division III Proposal No. I-2

During the 2007 NCAA Division III Convention business session, Proposal No. I-2 (recruiting -- sports camps and clinics -- privately owned camp) modifying NCAA Bylaw 13.12.4 was pulled from the blue pages of the 2007 NCAA Convention Division III Official Notice for discussion and the membership voted to not incorporate the previously issued interpretation into the NCAA Division III Manual.

The practical impact of that vote is that an official interpretation [Reference: 2/2/06, Item No. 12b] previously issued and adopted by the NCAA Division III Interpretations and Legislation Committee is not incorporated into the 2007-08 and subsequent versions of the Division III Manual.

Because of the concerns expressed on the floor of Convention regarding the interpretation of the current legislation, the NCAA Division III Management Council recommended that the committee review the issue of institutional staff members working at privately owned camps in any capacity in which prospective student-athletes are also employed. The committee is recommending a legislative proposal for the 2008 Convention cycle that would allow institutional staff members to be employed at the same camp in which a prospect is employed; however, would still continue to limit employment at elite-level camps. Further, the committee recommended to the NCAA Division III Management Council Administrative Review Subcommittee to issue a blanket waiver for the 2007-08 academic year allowing institutional staff members to be employed at privately owned camps or clinics that employ prospective student-athletes, provided the camp or clinic is open to the general public and the camp or clinic does not give free or reduced admission privileges to any individual who has started classes for the ninth grade. The committee based this recommendation on the fact that there appears to be considerable confusion in Division III regarding the current legislation, and it was apparent from the paddle vote on 2007 Proposal No. I-2 that the membership was not supportive of the current legislation; however, this committee does not feel that a change in the legislation can be accomplished through an immediately effective noncontroversial proposal and felt instead that the Administrative Review Subcommittee process and a proposal for the 2008 Convention was the more appropriate means to address the issue.

Finally, the committee recommended to the NCAA enforcement services staff to work on a fair and equitable means to address the vast number of violations that have apparently occurred in this area. The committee expects that the staff will need to follow procedures similar to what has been done in the past when there have been vast amounts of violations on a piece of legislation where significant confusion existed. Based on feedback received on the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators list serve, it is apparent that the amount of violations of this legislation is rather significant among Division III schools.

After discussions with the enforcement services staff, it was discovered that in order for past violations to be absolved without institutions filing self-reports, it would be necessary for the Management Council to provide the enforcement staff with the permission to take that course of action since it is outside of the ordinary procedures followed by enforcement services.

Therefore, the Management Council needs to decide whether enforcement services can handle past violations of Bylaw 13.12.4 without requiring institutions to self-report the violations and without requiring institutions to seek reinstatement for any student-athletes that maybe impacted. In the alternative, the Management Council could determine that it is necessary for institutions that have committed such violations to file self-reports of the violations and seek reinstatement for any student-athletes who were previously employed at a privately owned camp or clinic in which a member institution’s coaching staff member was employed.

Historical Progression of this Legislation

At the 1991 Convention, the membership adopted Bylaw 13.13.4 (privately owned camp). The legislation at that time read as follows:

13.13.4 Privately Owned Camp. An institution’s athletics department personnel may not serve in any capacity (e.g., guest lecturer, consultant) in a privately owned camp, clinic or coaching school in which senior prospects are enrolled or employed, or in which a high-school, preparatory school or two-year college athletics award winner is employed.

The legislation was modified slightly with semantically based changes in 1994 and again in 1995, and the resulting legislation from 1995 until present reads as follows:

13.12.4 Privately Owned Camp. An institution's athletics department personnel may not serve in any capacity (e.g., guest lecturer, consultant) in a privately owned camp, clinic or coaching school at which prospective student-athletes who have started the ninth grade are employed.

At its February 2, 2006, meeting, the committee adopted the following interpretation of the legislation and recommended that the interpretation be adopted into the language of the legislation within the Manual. The focus of this interpretation is to require the camp or clinic to be open to the general public and to prohibit free or reduced admissions for prospective student-athletes attending those camps or clinics. 2007 Proposal No. I-2 did not impact the prohibition on institutional staff members working private camps in which prospective student-athletes are employed (which was already clearly defined within the Manual following the 1991 Convention).

Coach Involved in Privately Owned Camp/Clinic (III). The committee determined that athletics department personnel may not serve in any capacity (e.g., guest lecturer, consultant) in a privately owned camp, clinic or coaching school that is not open to the general public (e.g., invitation only) or that gives free or reduced admission privileges to prospective student-athletes who have started classes for the ninth grade. [Reference: Bylaw 13.12.4 (privately owned camp) and staff interpretation (reference: 10/29/97, item c), which has been archived]

As a result of the vote on the Convention floor at the 2007 Convention, the proposal to adopt modified language (incorporated from the interpretation) into the 2007-08 Manual was not adopted. Thus, by default, the current legislation reverts to the way it was written prior to February 2, 2007, and reads as follows: