May 2, 2002-Vol33n27: Q&A

VOLUME 33, NUMBER 27

THURSDAY, May 2, 2002


	RICOTTA

Barbara Ricotta is dean of students and chair of the Steering Committee overseeing the NCAA certification program.

What is the NCAA certification program? How did it come about?
Although academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities, the NCAA Division I Athletics Certification Program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs. Certification is meant to ensure the NCAA's fundamental commitment to integrity in intercollegiate athletics. Following a pilot project, the NCAA's Division I membership overwhelmingly supported the program and its standards at the 1993 NCAA Convention as a key part of the NCAA's reform agenda. At the 1997 convention, the Division I membership voted to change the frequency of athletics certification from once every five years to once every 10 years and to require a five-year interim-status report.

How does the NCAA ensure this commitment to integrity?
The certification program is structured to achieve this in several ways. It opens the affairs of the athletics department to the university community and the public. Key campus constituent groups must be meaningfully involved in the self-study process. The NCAA requires that someone who is not involved in the athletics program chair the Steering Committee, which shepherds the self-study process on campus. The Steering Committee and the four subcommittees working on the self-study feature a broad-based representation of the campus community, including faculty, students and staff, as well as the Division of Athletics. The certification program also sets standards—called operating principles—for the operation of Division I athletics programs. These operating principles place a "measuring stick" by which all Division I members are measured. They cover four basic areas: governance and commitment to rules compliance, academic integrity, fiscal integrity, and equity, welfare and sportsmanship. In addition, the NCAA has put tough standards in place for institutions that fail to conduct a comprehensive self-study or fail to correct problems. Certification is intended to help an institution, not harm it. For this reason, ample time is given for an institution to consider its programs, identify problems and correct them. Institutions that fail to make an honest effort face serious consequences: ineligibility for NCAA championships, and if problems are not corrected, removal from active membership in the NCAA.

What are the benefits of the self-study to UB?
The self-study offers a unique opportunity to educate individuals across the campus about the athletics program's goals and purposes, the many challenges facing athletics and the ways in which athletics supports the mission of the university. It also reveals many aspects of the athletics program worthy of praise—it allows us to pat ourselves on the back, so to speak. But perhaps most importantly, the self-study process identifies problems and areas that can be improved, and offers a forum for suggestions from members of the campus community with a wide range of experience.

Where is UB now in the certification process?
The university now is in the final stages of the self-study process, which began Oct. 1. The Steering Committee and the four subcommittees are evaluating responses, reviewing feedback and preparing plans for improvement prior to the preparation of a draft of the self-study report and an executive summary. Once the draft report and summary are completed, they will be presented to the campus community in June for further input via campus meetings, focus groups, the campus media and the Athletics Web site at www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/certification. A final self-study report will go to the NCAA in late August, with a peer review team from the NCAA expected to come to campus in November. UB should receive a decision about its certification status in early 2003.

What are the possible outcomes?
When making a decision on certification, the NCAA's Committee on Athletics Certification first must decide if the institution's self-study was adequate. Much of that decision is based on the work of the peer review teams that visits the campus. The peer review team is responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of the self-study report, verifying the broad-based participation in the self-study and evaluating conformity with the operating principles and the institution's mission and purpose. Once the Committee on Athletics Certification considers a self-study report adequate, it works toward a specific certification decision. An institution can be "certified" when it is considered to be operating its athletics program in substantial conformity with the operating principles. It can be "certified with conditions" if problems are identified that are considered serious enough to have full certification withheld until those problems are corrected. An institution can be deemed "not certified" when it is not considered to be operating its athletics program in substantial conformity with the operating principles. Institutions classified as "certified with conditions" or "not certified" may be placed in a restricted membership category for up to one year. As a result, the institution would not be eligible for NCAA championship competition in all sports. If at the end of this restricted membership the committee concludes that the institution has not addressed the identified concerns properly, it may reclassify the institution as a corresponding member. That means the institution would no longer be an active member of the NCAA.

UB also is undergoing a self-study as part of the Middle States reaccreditation process. How are the two self-study processes similar? Different?
The two certifications are similar in that they are the processes that are recognized in their respective fields—academics and athletics—as validating the institution's ability to meet the standards set by the governing association. Both processes mirror one another in the requirement of broad-based participation in a campus self-study, followed by a visit from an external peer-review team. Achieving certification, or accreditation in the words of the Middle States process, is a critical milestone that is vitally important to the university's reputation and continued association with the NCAA and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.