The Division III Presidents Council supported three membership-sponsored legislative proposals late last month in preparation for the 2022 NCAA convention in Indianapolis.
The council voted to support legislation that allows all Division III schools with Division I programs to provide financial aid, i.e. athletic scholarships, supporting the proposal that would provide consistent framework to the two percent of Division III schools sponsoring a Division I sport.
Currently 10 schools in the division sponsor a sport in Division I, with five of them able to offer athletics aid dating back to a waiver granted in 2004.
RIT and Union would be affected by this in men’s and women’s hockey.
“As we are gearing up for what will be a historic convention for the NCAA, we had great dialogue surrounding how we are best supporting our student-athletes,” said Fayneese Miller, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Hamline, in a statement. “The D-III membership includes a variety of types of institutions and athletic experiences. It is therefore expected that sometimes difficult, but always thoughtful conversation will arise with any proposal submitted for consideration. And with any proposal that we believe will positively impact our student-athletes, we found good reason to support the three proposals from our membership at the Division III business session.”
Troy Hammond, president at North Central (Ill.), was selected as the next chair of the council while Jim Schmidt, chancellor at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, was voted in as the next vice chair. Their terms will begin after the Division III business session at the convention in January.
