University administrators approved a motion to adopt new policies regulating academic integrity in intercollegiate athletics at the Faculty Senate meeting yesterday.
Senator Andy Silverman from the UA's Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics Committee presented the COIA's document "Academic Integrity in Intercollegiate Athletics: Principles, Rules and Best Practices."
The COIA committee is comprised of Silverman, senators Don Davis and Doug Woodard and Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Alistair Chapman.
The Academic Integrity Document addresses athletics issues regarding admissions, scholarships, missed classes due to competitions and academic advising.
The coalition generates proposals to the National Collegiate Athletics Association with suggestions for practice guidelines to member universities. The UA is one of five Pacific 10 Conference schools belonging to the coalition. There are 47 university senates in the coalition.
By approving the AID, the Faculty Senate recommended President Peter Likins ask the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee to use the document as a guideline to conduct a self-study of UA's athletic academic integrity.
The study would then be presented to the president and the Faculty Senate.
Likins urged the Faculty Senate to approve the document and "take seriously the challenge regarding intercollegiate athletics."
"We've made enormous progress in academic integrity due to the mechanisms used to evaluate academic progress," Likins said. "It's important to attack the problem on all sides."
If every COIA committee approves the document when they vote in April, they will make three proposals to enact NCAA bylaw changes. Silverman said he predicts the proposal will pass.
The first change would be amending the NCAA's policy on athletic scholarships. AID provides that scholarships be awarded on a year-by-year basis and renewed only in the case of a student's "good academic standing, conformity with campus codes for student behavior, and adherence to team rules."
It also calls for institutions to establish criteria and mechanisms for revoking scholarships.
The document also asks that colleges "collect data on athlete enrollments and grades by course section, including indication of course GPAs, for each individual sport, and shall convey that information to the campus Faculty Governance Body."
Lastly, the Academic Integrity Document proposes to ban divided competition seasons as to not impose on the academic schedule. It also asks colleges to not schedule competitions during final exam periods.
Silverman said academic integrity has not been a major problem in UA athletics but nationally is a widespread issue.