To the Editor:

I would like to respond briefly to John Emerson's letter "Many Division III Athletes Fall Behind in Class" (The Chronicle, October 12).

The essence of my prior comments, which appeared in your article "Athletics Programs in the NCAA's Division III Engage in a Bit of Soul-Searching" and a portion of which is quoted by Mr. Emerson, remains valid. Data simply are not available to suggest how well student-athletes perform academically compared to non-student-athletes across Division III (i.e., "nationally"). The 90 institutions participating in the College Sports Project's study very likely do not constitute a representative sample of the 450 active and provisional members in Division III.

That is precisely why the Division III Presidents Council has approved a separate two-year pilot reporting process, beginning in the spring of 2010. The study will define academic success based on graduation and compare the graduation rates of student-athletes with those of non-student-athletes. The goal of the program will be to include an representative sample of the Division III membership, to determine the academic success of student-athletes across the entire division.

My comments should not be interpreted as a dismissal of the College Sports Project study. To the contrary, I would like to emphasize two points. First, I have no reason to doubt of the validity of the College Sports Project findings for the approximately 90 participating Division III member institutions. Those findings certainly seem significant. Second, the academic performance of student-athletes is a fundamental issue for the entire division. The expectation that the admission and academic performance of student-athletes in the division is consistent with non-student-athletes is a central tenet of the Division III philosophy statement. In this regard, one should not discount the extent to which the College Sports Project study, its findings to this point, and related publicity have helped to focus the attention of the broader division to this important issue.

The essence of the Division III student-athlete experience is learning and growth. This happens most importantly, although not exclusively, in the classroom through earning an academic degree. The division's membership should value any study to validate these fundamental principles.

Dan Dutcher

Vice President for Division III

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Indianapolis, Ind.