On Tuesday, UCA?s Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a motion to support a division change in athletics from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I-AA for the purpose of joining the Southland Conference.UCA President Lu Hardin addressed the senate?s questions and concerns at their Tuesday meeting.
Hardin said that a few months ago, he was ?60/40? on the division change issue. ?I was expecting to need three to three-and-a-half million more for athletics,? he said. ?I wasn?t sure we could do that.?
After Southland officials visited the campus in July and offered budget figures that were more within the university?s current budgetary range, Hardin said he went from 60 percent in favor of the change to 95 percent ?overnight.?
According to Hardin, UCA can expect to need an additional $1.5 million in its athletic budget, but much of that would be offset by increased revenue from conference membership and ticket revenue.
?Perception in athletics is important,? Hardin said. ?We will be joining a pretty impressive list of schools.? Other notable Division I-AA schools include Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stephen F. Austin and Western Kentucky.
Senators asked how the higher academic standards for Division I-AA student athletes would affect UCA student athletes. ?We have some students who, next year, will not meet those academic standards,? Hardin said. ?We will honor the scholarship commitments to them if they choose to stay at UCA. Most will want to continue competing in their sports, so we will try to help them transfer to someplace else where they can still play. Ethically, we want to do the right thing.?
While some questioned the additional funding that would be needed in athletics for the division switch, Provost Gabe Esteban reminded faculty that approximately $3 million will be spent on new and revised faculty positions, on top of an $800,000 salary equity and merit fund.
Senators also asked if new or expanded athletic facilities would be needed. Hardin said two athletic programs ? baseball and track ? will need new or upgraded facilities, but he prefaced that by stating that those facilities would be upgraded regardless of a division change. ?One of the things the Southland officials were more impressed with was our athletic facilities. We will have one of the best football and basketball stadiums in Southland,? he said.
Hardin said the timing of the division change is critical. ?This is our only opportunity. If we don?t move now, it may be 15 to 20 years before we have another chance,? he said.
According to UCA?s Athletics Committee report, UCA must be a member of a conference to keep athletics costs down. ?The closest Division I-AA conferences that would keep travel to a minimum for UCA are the Southland Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference ? If UCA turns down the Southland Conference, another opening will not occur for years. In discussions with the Ohio Valley Conference, they indicated they were willing to ?investigate expansion in two to three years?.?
After the discussion with Hardin, Senator Don Bradley, a marketing professor, indicated his support of the senate?s motion, stating, ?My business side says if we don?t take a risk, we won?t be going anywhere.?
The motion passed 21-2.
