February 22, 2007

Members Present: Bruce Cohen, Robert Colbert, Larry Gramling, Jeffrey Hathaway, Robert Hoskin, Emily Karel, Lee Melvin, Ron Schurin, Bill Shults, Eric Soulsby, Jeff Von Munkwitz-Smith, Janet Williams, Frank Wunschel, Paul Young.

The minutes from the November 16, 2006 meeting were approved.

Certification Update Ron Schurin reported that the Self-Study Report is 80-85% complete. The University’s Steering Committee and its subcommittees are in the process of reviewing standards as well as plans for improvement. There has been a substantial amount of outreach to students and student-athletes to gather information for the report.. Today, February 22, there was a public hearing which was promoted to the campus community through a mass university email. Approximately 30 people attended the public hearing where they were provided an overview of the recertification process and opportunities for questions. The Self-Study is scheduled for completion in April 2007. Following approval by the President and Board of Trustees, it will be presented to the NCAA. From there, the NCAA will have a peer-review team visit the University in October 2007 to review the Self-Study. The NCAA peer-review team will study the completeness and accuracy of the University’s report and ultimately place the University in one of three categories: certified, certified with conditions or not certified. Certification, if approved, is for a ten-year period (The University completed its first self-study and certification process in 1998). Chair Rob Hoskin asked the committee to read through NCAA Certification information, which can be obtained through the Athletics website. Rob distributed the Annual Survey for the Student-Athlete Report (attached), which was presented at the last certification meeting. The survey will be part of the Student-Welfare study. This survey does not include seniors. Marielle VanGelder is gathering the exit survey data to capture seniors.

PAAC Website Rob Hoskin reported that the website is not live yet, it is still a beta site. There will be a link located on the Athletics’ website and the President’s website that will connect to the PAAC website. Pictures and links will be adjusted before the unveiling of the website. Jeff Hathaway spoke about the link for the National Consortium for Academic and Sport, which held its annual conference held in Orlando Florida on February 20th-21st. The University was recognized for the second year in a row for its efforts in assisting former student-athletes, whose eligibility is exhausted, in earning their UConn degree. Our CPIA program has been instrumental in these successful Degree Completion efforts. In addition, the Division of Athletics also received an award for Outstanding Community Service. Rob spoke about and distributed the high school/college/professional sports participation table that is posted on the site (attached). If you have anything else you would like to have posted on the website please send it to Rob.

CPIA Review Report This year is our first review of CPIA, which must be reviewed every three years. A draft of the review was sent out to PAAC members via email. Questions and concerns were brought up regarding the review the question of whether counselors should be sport specific or randomly assigned to student-athletes. Bruce Cohen also stated that his part of the responsibilities in his leadership role at CPIA is to provide assistance on campus to students who have learning disabilities. Some student-athletes with learning disabilities are pushed though high school and it is not discovered until they reach college. At this time the University of Connecticut does provide learning disability testing but there is a significant delay in receiving appointments for testing and the final evaluation. CPIA has contracted with an outside consultant to provide more timely service in this regard and he believes it would be an asset to the University in meeting the needs of its students if more timely services could be provided within the University.

Faculty Senate Proposed Policy on Grading Attendance Mark Boyer circulated to the members a draft of the proposed attendance policy bylaw revision (attached). Questions and concerns were brought up regarding this proposal. The primary concern was that members did not want student-athletes to be unfairly penalized for missing classes due to university extra-curricular activities. A decision was made to send a memo to the University Senate, the President and the Provost expressing our concern in this matter. Rob Hoskin will circulate a draft via email prior to sending the memo.

Edits to President’s Charge and Subcommittee Charges The revisions to the Presidents charge were distributed (attached-green) along with the existing charge (attached-yellow). Rob Hoskin would like feedback from the members on the charges. Some suggestions were brought up during the meeting regarding additional information that should be included for example, how members are selected, standards in electing new members, and the names of the members of the committee.

Updates-Jeff Hathaway, Director of Athletics Jeff Hathaway distributed a summary review of new NCAA legislation from Bond Schoenick & King (BS&K), the law firm which represents the University on NCAA matters (attached). He also distributed information and a survey regarding the use of male practice players in Division I women’s sports (attached). The survey was sent to all institutions and the use male practice players was found to be a common practice. In response to this survey, Bill Shults sent out an email to coaches who have used male practice players. Based on their emails we responded that we support the use of male practice players.

Rob Hoskin announced the next PAAC meeting on April 5, 2007, would be held in Gentry 144, from 4:00p.m. -6:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 P.M.