WASHINGTON, D.C., April 24, 2003 - Representatives of a coalition of faculty senate leaders, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), and the NCAA staff met in Chicago on April 12 to discuss how they can contribute to the current movement toward reform in intercollegiate athletics.

The 30 representatives included NCAA President Myles Brand, AGB President Tom Ingram, AGB Board Chair John Walda, and faculty representatives led by Bob Eno of Indiana University and James Earl of the University of Oregon, who have helped form the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA).

As a result of the meeting, the three groups agreed that a strong consensus exists to support continuing collaboration. As a first priority, the group agreed to a resolution in support of current academic-reform efforts, including the NCAA's "incentives/disincentives" initiative, which is aimed at holding colleges and universities accountable for the academic success of student-athletes and developing a new method for measuring academic success.

"We had a very informative and productive meeting," Walda said. "Central to the discussion of this tri-partite alliance was agreement to support academic reform. We also reaffirmed the vital importance of vesting responsibility and accountability in college and university presidents for the conduct of athletics programs."

Among its other agreements on immediate priorities, the alliance:

• Endorsed ongoing efforts to establish uniform reporting standards for athletics budgets as a baseline for developing future fiscal guidelines and to provide more "transparency" in how colleges and universities account for revenues and expenses;
• Agreed to support current efforts to address student-athlete welfare concerns (enforcement of the 20-hour rule, reducing nonacademic time commitments for student-athletes, and other related matters); and
• Urged development of "best practices" to mainstream intercollegiate athletics with university missions and encouraged the development of best practice models for integrating faculty athletics representatives with the work of faculty athletics committees.

"We're talking about raising academic standards and about encouraging athletes to do better academically. What we want for our athletes is what we want for all of our students," said Earl. "The problems we confront are complex and interconnected, but with sustained partnership and committed leadership, real change is possible," added Eno, who along with Earl has helped focus the attention of faculty senates on these issues.

Future meetings will explore other longer term issues, including the welfare of student-athletes and the problems posed to the academic missions of colleges and universities by increasing commercialism.

The three groups agreed to develop a steering committee to continue the dialogue and to mount future support for reform initiatives. Future meeting dates will be set later.

"This type of initiative is essential to sustaining an effective reform effort," Brand said. "These are three groups that historically have not come together on issues, but we are beginning to see a momentum for reform that promises to be compelling and effective."

For additional information related to the Chicago gathering and its outcomes thus far, please consult with the following spokespersons:

• Alliance Chair-John Walda (jwalda@indiana.edu)
• NCAA-Myles Brand (mbrand@ncaa.org)
• AGB-Tom Ingram (tomi@agb.org)
• COIA-James Earl (jwearl@oregon.uoregon.edu)