By JARED PRATT
The self-study draft of BYU athletics’ National Collegiate Athletics Association certification process is complete and available for the campus community’s review.
The self study is a program developed by the NCAA in 1993 for certification of Division I universities to participate in NCAA events, said Kevin Worthen, BYU professor of law and head of the self-study committee.
It is an accreditation process for the athletic department similar to accreditation other colleges within the university go through, Worthen said.
The study basically gives the public and the university an idea of operations between the athletic department and the university, Worthen said.
The NCAA wants to ensure there is fair institutional control of athletic departments, Worthen said.
Hard copies of the draft are available in the library and in the offices of college deans. A copy of the draft is also on BYU’s Internet Web site at http://www.byu.edu/ncaa-draft.
The study’s primary purpose is not necessarily inform, but to give the campus community an opportunity to review the draft, give suggestions about the draft and inform the committee of things they may have been unaware of, Worthen said.
A public meeting on the self-study draft will be Nov. 2 at 3:30 p.m. in 2254 HCEB.
According the NCAA, all Division I institutions must be certified every 10 years under this program.
The study is directed by a 28-member steering committee composed of administrators, faculty, coaches, students and alumni.
The study follows a self-study instrument, given to universities by the NCAA. Subcommittees work on the following areas assigned by the NCAA:
— governance and commitment to rules compliance
— academic integrity
— fiscal integrity
— commitment to equity
Each of those are divided into two sections: items and evaluation, and plan for improvement.
“Items are data or information that the NCAA wants subcommittees to find and report on,” Worthen said.
Evaluation and plans for improvement is a chance for the subcommittees to review the data and compare it to NCAA operating principles to see if BYU is meeting NCAA standards, Worthen said.
“Once the report is finalized, it will be sent to a peer review team composed of university and athletic administration personnel from other institutions,” Worthen said. “The peer review team will then come to campus for an evaluation visit in March 1999.”
Before the NCAA instituted the certification process there were no formal standards governing membership in the NCAA. Now the NCAA has a benchmark or minimum standard schools must meet to become members, said Rhondo Fehlberg, BYU executive director of Men’s Athletics.
The NCAA has a different process to investigate schools found violating NCAA rules, Fehlberg said.
The NCAA divided their members into groups to be certified at certain times. The University of Utah was in the first group certified a few years ago, BYU is in the last group to be certified, Fehlberg said.
