REPORT OF THE
NCAA DIVISION III
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
1. ACTION
ITEMS.
a.
(1)
Recommendation. That
(2) Rationale. Hood transitioned to a coeducational institution in 2003-04 and sponsored five sports, but did not have enough participants to count the five sports. Further, Hood did not sponsor three team sports for men in 2003-04. The NCAA Division III Membership Committee noted that the institution should have applied for the waiver prior to its transition to be a coeducational institution and also that it did not meet the three team sport requirement in 2003-04. The committee determined that the purpose of this waiver is to allow for a transition period, and that Hood should have three years to establish its men's athletics program.
(3) Budget Impact. None.
b.
Minimum
Contest Requirement for Rowing (NCAA Bylaw 20.11.3.3).
(1)
Recommendation. Adopt
noncontroversial legislation to establish a minimum contest requirement in
women's rowing of five contests
(2)
Rationale. The
Division III Manual did not include a minimum contest requirement for rowing. Consultation with members of the NCAA Division
III Rowing Committee produced the recommendation of five contests for the
minimum contest requirement in women's rowing.
(3)
Budget Impact.
None.
2. INFORMATIONAL
ITEMS.
a.
Issues Related to NCAA
Strategic Plan. The committee reviewed
the NCAA Association-wide strategic plan in light of the mission of the committee. Citing Objective 3.4 (informed
governance and decision-making), the committee will explore the feasibility of
producing a video to educate the membership about the Division III governance
process. The video would be administered
when student-athletes sign their annual NCAA compliance/eligibility forms to
create greater awareness among coaches and student-athletes regarding the NCAA
and the Division III governance process.
b.
Issues
Related to the Future of Division III – Phase II. The committee agreed
to poll Division III conferences about conference policies that may be different
than NCAA policies. This issue and
legislated areas impacted by conference autonomy will be presented to the NCAA
Division III Management Council at its July meeting.
c.
Exploratory
Member Education Session. The
committee revised the exploratory membership program to change the date and
location of the exploratory member education session. The session will be conducted in the fall
at the NCAA national office as opposed to at the NCAA Convention. Further, the fee schedule for the exploratory
members was revised to accommodate publications costs while exploratory institutions
wait to begin the provisional membership process.
d.
Provisional and
Reclassifying Member Education Requirements. The committee updated the reclassifying
membership program to include education requirements in each of the four
provisional years. The provisional
program was updated to revise the convention education sessions based on
feedback from the 2004 Convention. Educational program components for future
years were further developed by the committee. Finally, a provisional member Web site
will be developed to house all information relevant to the NCAA provisional
program.
e.
Review of Institutions
Not Meeting the Sports-Sponsorship Requirements. The committee reviewed the list of institutions
not meeting sports-sponsorship requirements and corresponded with those
institutions regarding the implications of a failure to meet the five-sport/three-season
requirement.
f.
Active Member Education.
The committee agreed to survey the
Division III membership regarding effective ways to deliver rules education. The committee will look at such
technologies as Web broadcasts, standard video and Video magazines to share
with the Division III membership.
g.
Minimum Contest Requirements
in All Sports. After noting the
seemingly arbitrary assignment of many of the minimum contests requirements,
the committee will solicit feedback from the individual sports committees to
determine what the appropriate number of minimum contests should be for
membership requirements. The
committee will also consider data on the current number of contests that are
being conducted in each sport and the number of contests required for
championships selection purposes.
h. Legislative Request
from
Staff Liaisons: