Athletics Committee Meeting
September 15, 2003
Present:Todd Diacon (chair), David Anderson, Ruth Darling, Donna Thomas, Harold Denton, Mike Hamilton, Andy Dunsmore, Julia Mahlia, Barb Kaye, Anne Mayhew, Ann Fairhurst.
Chairman Todd Diacon called the meeting to order at 3:35pm.
Todd reviewed the charges for the committee. The goals for the faculty senate athletic committee were developed by Todd Diacon, Beauvais Lyons (faculty senate president) and Candace White (faculty senate president-elect). The goals are as follows:
- Invite Mike Hamilton to speak to the Faculty Senate Monday, October 20. at 3pm.
- Work with Ruth Darling, coaches, NCAA compliance officers and the committee to issue a report on academic performance of student athletes, encompassing admissions for student athletes, distribution of majors, GPA by class and academic year, and GPA by sport with number of athletes.
- Invite Anne Mayhew to address the Senate in the spring regarding academic issues from the above reports.
- Continue to monitor Thornton Advising Center academic support programs.
- Involve faculty in the search for a new Faculty Athletic Rep.
- Serve as a liaison to the SEC Faculty Athletics Committee meeting in Birmingham in April.
- Coordinate Budget committee and Athletic committee meeting with John Collier (Chair of the Athletic Budget Board) and Mike Hamilton.
- Review name of the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund.
- Read the book The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values.
- Propose NCAA Best Practices as a guide for revising previous Senate resolution regarding gratuities from the Athletic Department.
- Write an article about athletics and academic issues in the Senate Newsletter.
Ruth Darling shared NCAA release of Federal graduation rates. The NCAA overall graduation rate was 42.6%. Our rate for men was 34.9% and the women's graduation rate was 56%. Ruth looked at each individual used in the 96 cohort group to determine if there were any extenuating circumstances contributing to our numbers. Many were in good standing, met academic requirements, but transferred or went pro. If you looked at the overall academic success rate, it was 88.2%. Already the 97 cohort group looks better than the 96 group in terms of graduation rates.
Anne Mayhew suggested that one thing we want to start watching is the transfer rate. Mike Hamilton mentioned that this fall, the NCAA waived the one year of eligibility and allowed a transfer student to play his first year. This could be problematic in the future.
During the next meeting we will discuss the issue of faculty accepting gratuities from the Athletic Department and Vanderbilt's status of athletics on campus.
Meeting adjourned at 4:45pm.
Minutes submitted by Ann Fairhurst
Athletics Committee Meeting
February 9, 2004
Present: Todd Diacon (chair), David Anderson, Ruth Darling, Donna Thomas, Harold Denton, Mike Hamilton, Anne Mayhew, Joan Cronin, Tyler Johnson, Don Hodges, Jason Respert, Peggy Pierce, Ann Fairhurst
Chairman Todd Diacon called the meeting to order at 3:05pm.
Todd indicated that the NCAA has a 10 year certification that we are required to go through this year. There are three broad areas of review: Governance, Academic Integrity, and Equality, Welfare & Student Conduct. Our committee is responsible for the review of Equality, Welfare and Student Conduct. We are to author separate reports on: gender, minority issues and student athlete welfare. This is a very important part of the full report because it is an area that deals with the treatment of students.
There are two keys to preparing the report: honest answers and broad input. This means that everyone on the committee has to read and approve the report. Smaller groups can collect the data and develop a draft but everyone on the committee has to read and approve it. The committee's work needs to be finished by August 2004 and the final report from the University is due January 2005. The NCAA Athletics Recertification: Written Plan for Self Study and Self Study instrument for equity, welfare, and sporting conduct was distributed. These documents include what was done so far and what we will do in the future relative to the issues. Todd reviewed what our committee needs to do.
Todd suggests that we have a core group familar with the athletic data work on each section then two faculty volunteers that will also work on each section. The following assignments were made:
Gender - Ann Fairhurst, Peggy Pierce
Minority Issues- Don Hodges, David Anderson
Student Welfare - Harold Denton, Jason Respert
The core group will consist of: Donna Thomas, Ruth Darling, Anne Mayhew, and Tyler Johnson.
Our next meeting is scheduled for March 15 at 3pm. At this meeting, the core group will go over all the data collected and assist each group in identifying the appropriate data to complete their report.
Meeting adjourned at 4:30pm
Minutes submitted by Ann Fairhurst
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