Campus Athletics Governance, the Faculty Role:  Principles, Proposed Rules, and Guidelines

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SUMMARY STATEMENT

This document was adopted by the COIA membership on April 12, 2004, as a Coalition contribution to campus athletics governance at Division IA schools.  It was developed by a team of faculty drawn jointly from the leaderships of the Coalition and of the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association, working from an extensive compilation of successful governance practices developed by Scott Kretchmar, the FAR at Penn State.  The proposal is designed to provide models of successful campus athletics governance structures involving faculty, that could be useful to campuses in assessing their own local policies and procedures.  It rests on a vision of governance that sees effective and complementary contributions to athletics governance by university presidents, governing boards, and faculties as an essential feature of intercollegiate athletics programs that realize their potential to contribute to the missions of schools and the welfare of students.

Our proposal discusses three campus governance institutions where faculty play key roles related to athletics: the Faculty Athletics Representative, the Campus Athletics Board, and the Faculty Governance Body.  It sets forth general principles that can help faculty fulfill their responsibilities effectively and constructively, and it enumerates a considerable number of specific best-practice features.  A small number of these features are recommended for adoption as NCAA bylaws for Division I schools, because we believe athletics governance is severely handicapped without them.  Most features are recommended as options for local adaptation that in many cases may have the potential to improve the effectiveness of athletics governance.  These detailed items are not meant to be prescriptive for all campuses; we have included them because this document is intended as a resource that campuses can consult when assessing whether their athletics governance structures are satisfactory or could be improved.  In these respects, the premise of the proposal is that local faculty are best able to design governance structures for their campuses, but that all of us are helped when successful ideas are shared.

Our understanding of governance issues and best practices is not static, and this document should not be seen as an exhaustive and unchanging blueprint.  It will be subject to revision in future iterations as new circumstances and new knowledge arise.