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The annual conference for Naspa -- Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education runs March 8-12 in Boston. View the schedule.

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Past Naspa Coverage

Creating a 'Culture of Preparedness' (2008)
Colleges must empower their students to help prevent violent incidents on campuses and prepare them to respond during emergencies, experts say.

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The solution to shooting incidents at colleges and universities is not more guns, public-safety experts argue.

New Demands on Student Affairs (2007)
The needs of an increasingly diverse student population are rapidly expanding the roles and responsibilities of student-affairs offices.

Millennials, Parents, and Liability (2006)
Modern students are skilled multitaskers who dream big, thrive on stress, and call their parents constantly.

Conference Archives

January 13, 2008

Urgency Surrounds Debate Over a 4th NCAA Division

The time to reorganize Division III is now.

That is what John A. Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall College and chairman of the NCAA’s Division III Presidents Council, told a ballroom of several hundred Division III athletics officials and presidents this morning.

“If we take a pass on this because it is too disruptive or too painful, then shame on us,” Mr. Fry said. “Let’s seize the moment and take on this work.”

A working group has come up with two models of how Division III might be restructured. One calls for creating a fourth division. The other calls for subdividing the current Division III. Those models will be discussed at the division’s business meeting tomorrow. There are no immediate proposals up for a vote, but officials predict the debate will be lively.

A big reason for tackling this challenge sooner rather than later, Mr. Fry said, is that the NCAA’s broadcast contract with CBS is up for renegotiation in 2013. The contract provides all of the revenue that Division III’s 420 institutions receive from the NCAA. So if there is going to be a fourth division, it needs to take shape before the new contract is drawn up and decisions are made on how the money will be allocated, Mr. Fry said.

Comments

1. Well, as a parent, it is so comforting to know that the NCAA, always keeping its eye on the ball, lets broadcast revenues trump the need to consider carefully the effects of the proposals on the Division III athletes and their schools. Just another glimpse at the shameful way the NCAA conducts itself.

   — Parent    Jan 14, 04:12 PM    #

2. Parent,
   It doesn’t seem as though it is proposed that the decision be made excluding the welfare of athletes and schools, but the timing of the contracts is the factor which is driving the timing. That seems to me to be a reasonable position.

   — Dave    Jan 14, 06:04 PM    #

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