UA completes first step in NCAA certification process

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat UA athletic director Jim Livengood (center) and other athletic department staff listen as subcommittee members Robert Sankey (foreground-left) and Fred Stevenson (foreground-right) make their summaries yesterday in the College of Education's Kiva Auditorium. The committee found the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to be in substantial compliance with all five of the operating principles defining academic integrity.

The results of a nine-month study on the part of four subcommittees was the first step in completing an NCAA self-study report on the ICA's compliance with NCAA rules and regulations concerning all areas that allow the UA to be accredited as a Division I institution.

"This stage ends the work of the subcommittees," NCAA steering committee chair John L. Taylor said. "Now the reports will be synthesized by other persons, including myself, so that it meets NCAA guidelines for the final report due out in May of 1999."

With ICA representatives among the 20 people in attendance, heads of four subcommittees reported on the findings they made over the past nine months.

In every area the UA passed with "flying colors," said athletic director Jim Livengood.

"We're very pleased," he said. "There is certainly room for a lot of improvement. We will implement every recommendation that the subcommittees made."

The four subcommittees present were Governance and Commitment to Rules Compliance, Academic Integrity, Fiscal Integrity and Commitment to Equity.

The equity subcommittee found that UA is meeting NCAA guidelines in three areas - gender equity, minority issues and student welfare.

Still, subcommittee chair Dr. Saundra Taylor identified at least three concerns the ICA will have to address.

One is the issue of women's locker and lounge space at McKale Center, which will be upgraded in size when the Phase II expansion of McKale begins, but will still lag behind during that construction period.

The second is the continued discrepancy between men's and women's coaches' salaries, though she did note that women's head basketball coach Joan Bonvicini had received a raise that put her more on par with men's basketball coach Lute Olson.

The final concern deals with the low graduation rate among African-American male athletes, who are among the only minority group to have a lower graduation rate than non-athletes.

Taylor said athletes leaving school for the professional ranks does likely have an impact on graduation rates.

"We think it plays a significant role in football and basketball," she said. "Perhaps when you take those out it would balance out more."

She went on to say that expanding the UA's post-eligibility graduation program might help increase the number of graduating student athletes.

The fiscal subcommittee identified two concerns in regard to the financial situation with the ICA.

One is the Scholarship Suite agreement, which is supposed to take excess revenue and place it in the general scholarship fund, with half for student athletes and half for regular students.

Fiscal chair Doug Woodard said that to date, the agreement has not held true.

"It's not being done right now in the right way," he said.

Woodard also said the subcommittee was concerned about the distribution of textbooks to student athletes, but he noted that problem was already being taken care of by other groups.

The academic integrity subcommittee found three areas of concern for the ICA to analyze.

The first is to examine the academic credentials of incoming student athletes to make sure they are prepared academically.

The second is to deal with an observed decline in first-year grade point averages among athletes from 2.6 in 1993 to 2.4 in 1997.

"We think that's a concern because success in early years is important for a student athlete," subcommittee chair Robert Sankey said.

Sankey said the subcommittee did not have the necessary resources to figure out exactly why the drop in GPA's occurred, though, and that kind of study will have to be carried out by the ICA.

The final concern that Sankey's group had was the differing graduation rates among the 18 Division I sports at UA.

The final subcommittee to speak focused on rules compliance. Representing the group was Fred Stevenson, as chairman Paul Capp could not attend.

Stevenson summed up his group's findings quickly.

"I am thrilled to tell you we run an excellent program, a clean program," he said.

Stevenson said the subcommittee's only concern was that the UA maintain its diligent monitoring of booster groups and other parties who might entice athletes and coaches to break NCAA rules.

Taylor said the next step in the certification process will occur with the arrival of an outside peer review committee in November.

The peer review group will compile all the studies and present them to the ICA and NCAA in May of 1999.