The University of Central Arkansas today announced that it has initiated a year-long, campus-wide effort to study its athletics program as part of the NCAA Division I athletics certification program. The study will cover academic integrity, governance, and commitment to rules compliance, as well as a commitment to gender, diversity, and student-athlete well-being.
While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, this program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs. Following a pilot project, the NCAA Division I membership overwhelmingly supported the program and its standards at the 1993 NCAA Convention. At the 1997 Convention, the NCAA Division I membership voted to change the frequency of athletics certification from once every five years to once every 10 years. The current self-study will be the first in the certification process for the University.
The athletics certification program’s purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution’s athletics operations. The program opens up athletics to the rest of the university/college community and to the public. Institutions will benefit by increasing campus-wide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths and developing plans to improve areas of concern.The committee responsible for the study will include UCA interim president Tom Courtway, committee chair and UCA vice president for administration Jack Gillean, various members of the institution’s faculty and staff, as well as athletics department personnel. A member of the NCAA membership services staff conducted a one-day orientation videoconference with the committee and its subcommittees in September 2008.
Within each area to be studied by the committee, the program has standards known as operating principles that were adopted by the Association to establish benchmarks by which all Division I members are evaluated.
When UCA has concluded its study, an external team of reviewers will conduct a three-day evaluation visit on campus. Those reviewers will be peers from other colleges, universities or conference offices. The peer-review team will report to the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification. The Committee on Athletics Certification will then determine the institution’s certification status and announce the decision publicly. For institutions that fail to conduct a comprehensive self-study or to correct problems, sanctions could be imposed.
The three options of certification status are: certified; certified with conditions and not certified. While institutions will have an opportunity to correct deficient areas, those institutions that do not take corrective actions may be ruled ineligible for NCAA championships.
UCA has a webpage that further explains the athletic certification process and lists the various committee members involved in the process. For more information, go to: http://ucasports.com/ucasports.asp?id=139.
The NCAA is a membership organization of colleges and universities that participate in intercollegiate athletics. The primary purpose of the Association is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body. Activities of the NCAA membership include formulating rules of play for NCAA sports, conducting national championships, adopting and enforcing standards of eligibility, and studying all phases of intercollegiate athletics.
