Collegian March 20, 1986 Small Colleges Seek More Control College Press Service Much like their big-campus brethren, presidents of small col leges say they'll try to exert greater control over their sports programs later this month. A committee of big-school presidents, of course, has been trying to wrest more power from athletic directors over the opera tions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the last two years. - Now a number of presidents of relatively smaller schools that belong to the National Associa tion of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) are trying to wrest power over policy from their athletic directors. • The NAIA, when it meets later this month, will vote on reform proposals that would give more power to the presidents and, some say, eventually lead to stricter academic requirements for atheletes and fewer games per season. While critics fear the presidents may unnecessarily complicate life in the NAIA, the presidents themselves apparently fear that the grade-fixing, point shaving and illegal payment scandals now plaguing the NCAA could filter down to the NAIA unless they act to prevent it. In the past, the low-key NAIA largely escaped the attention of school administrators. And some NAIA executives say they like it that way. "Presidents aren't going to be current or have expertise in athletics," says Phyllis Holmes, a NAIA Executive Committee vice president and director of women's athletics at Greenville College, 111. "We (athletic directors) are in volved every day." The new proposal, which r— '.d relegate the Executive Committee to supervising championships, came out of the NAIA Presidents' Council, which is now only an ad visory committee. The Executive Committee, though open to ad ministrators and faculty, is com posed mainly of athletic depart ment personnel. "Presidents need to watch over our athletic programs more close ly," says Jeff Ferris, president of Central Arkansas University and a member of the Presidents' Council. "We've_ felt our obliga tion hasn't been met." Ferris thinks the NAIA can use the administrators' perspective. "I can make a case that those peo ple who work so closely in sport s aren't in the position to evaluate their programs objectively," he says. "Presidents are well qualified to do just that." Ferris also says that the pro posal to shift "isn't a threat" to sports personnel. "We need to find ways to talk together, to combine our expertise," he says. While saying they welcome the presidents' input, many athletic directors fear it could bog down the NAIA in regulations. "The NCAA has regulated itself to death," says Wayne Dannehl, a vice president of the NAIA Ex ecutive Committee and the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside. While welcoming "honest debate" presidents have brought to the association, Dannehi hopes they will leave present rules alone. For instance, NAIA baseball teams are free to play as many games as their budget will allow. sports 12 Over Athletic Teams And teams in warmer regions usually play longer seasons that those restricted by weather. "If Arizona wants to play more than we do in Wisconsin. we shouldn't be telling them, 'you can only play 40 games,"' Dan nehl says. Many presidents, however, fear such lax rules can lead to the same kind of exploita tion of students that has scan dalized many NCAA schools in recent years. "If you have a kid playing 80 to 100 baseball games, when are they being student?" wonders Presi dent Thomas Feld of Mount Mer cy College in lowa and vice chair man of the NAIA's President's Council. "You can exploit athletes whether you're at a big school or a small one," he says. If presidents direct the association's future, Feld predicts sports will take more of a back seat to studies for NAIA athletes_ "Presidents generally feel limitations are necessary to preserve the 'student status' of student athletes," he says. But more stringent academic re- quirements may cut some of the most needy student athletes, some athletic directors fear, echoing a recent criticism of the tougher NCAA rules. "For the past 31 years, I've recruited players from disadvan taged families," says Dave Sisam of Grand View College in lowa. "Many don't graduate, but they're able to go out in the world and perform, to do better than they ever could have without college:" Holmes of Greenville College hopes the delegates to this year's convention seriously debate -the issue before voting to change to the NAIA is governed, "We'd rather have change come from the grassroots level, from the people we're serving," she says. "This feels like the directives from the men at the top." "Sure we need checks and balances," says Sisam. "But I hope the pendulum doesn't swing, too far and negate the good things NAIA stands for." Editor's note: This year Behrend become a member of the NCAA moving from the NAIA.
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