NCAA fully certifies Syracuse University athletics program

NCAA fully certifies Syracuse University athletics programApril 13, 2007Kevin C. Quinnkcquinn@syr.edu

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced today that it has fully certified the Syracuse University intercollegiate athletics program. The certification comes following a process that began in October 2005.

Certification means that the University remains eligible for all NCAA Championships and is considered to be operating its intercollegiate athletics program in substantial conformance with all of the standards upon which the NCAA evaluate Division I schools. The NCAA athletics certification process occurs once every 10 years. Syracuse successfully completed its last NCAA review process in 1998.

The NCAA’s Committee on Athletics Certification reached the decision after reviewing SU’s self-study report, which was submitted last spring, as well as the report prepared by a peer review team commissioned by the NCAA that visited the SU campus in September 2006 to assess the University’s report.

SU was one of 41 institutions whose athletic programs were certified, according to the announcement by the NCAA.

While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, this program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs. Its purpose is to ensure integrity in athletics and to examine how the activities of the athletics program relate to the mission and purpose of the institution. In addition, the certification program is designed to determine if the athletics program meets the standards, called “operation principles,” upon which the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification evaluates all Division I schools.

“I want to congratulate and thank Dr. David Bennett, Dr. Daryl Gross, Associate Athletic Director Jamie Mullin and the entire University-wide team who undertook the yearlong, campus-wide effort that resulted in our successful re-certification,” says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. “While we fully expected this positive outcome, the NCAA’s decision reaffirms our University’s commitment to the welfare of our student-athletes, and equity and integrity in our athletics programs.”

“We are proud of our certification,” says Dr. Daryl Gross, director of athletics. “It is a tribute to our wonderful staff in athletics and the tremendous and collaborative support from our great University. Certification is what we all expected; however, we will continue to go beyond what is required and make significant progress toward being extraordinary in every way.

“I want to give special thanks to the chair of our University committee, David Bennett, Associate Director of Athletics Jamie Mullin and all of the committee members who worked so hard during this process.”

In October 2005, Chancellor Cantor appointed and charged a steering committee and three subcommittees with completing the NCAA self-study and reviewing the athletics program and its commitment and support of the University’s vision of Scholarship in Action. SU’s Office of Athletic Compliance coordinated the certification process.

Bennett, Meredith Professor of History in The College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was appointed chairperson of the self-study steering committee. The subcommittees, corresponding with the self-study areas, were Academic Integrity (chaired by Susan Donovan, dean of admissions), Governance and Commitment to Rules Compliance (chaired by Michael Wasylenko, senior associate dean in the Maxwell School) and Equity and Student-Athlete Welfare (chaired by Anastasia Urtz, dean of students).

University faculty and staff who comprised the membership of the steering committee and subcommittees examined the Department of Athletics and provided constructive commentary on its operations. The entire University community received periodic updates of the work of the steering committee and subcommittees, and had the opportunity to ask questions at open forums during the Spring 2006 semester.

The members of the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification are: McKinley Boston Jr., New Mexico State University; Shonna Brown, Mid-American Conference; Rita Hartung Cheng, University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Beatrice Crane Banford, Marshall University; Rich Ensor, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; Kevin Hatcher, Colgate University; Gerald M. Lage, Oklahoma State University; Leo Lambert (chair), Elon University; M. Dianne Murphy, Columbia University-Barnard College; Gloria Nevarez, West Coast Conference; Donald Pope-Davis, University of Notre Dame; Allison Rich, California State University, Fullerton; Mary Ann Rohleder, Indiana University, Bloomington; Greg Sankey, Southeastern Conference; and Jon Steinbrecher, Ohio Valley Conference.

SU has now completed the second cycle of the NCAA certification process, a requirement for all 326 Division I members. The initial round of certification was a five-year cycle; the current cycle is 10 years.