UH NEARING COMPLETION OF SELF-STUDY OF
ATHLETICS PROGRAM
Year-Long Evaluation Standard Protocol for Maintaining NCAA Certification
HOUSTON, March 16, 2006 – President Jay Gogue announced
today that the University of Houston is nearing the completion of
a year-long, campus-wide effort to study its athletics program as
part of the NCAA Division I athletics certification program. Specific
areas of study have been academic integrity, governance and commitment
to rules compliance, as well as a commitment to equity and student-athlete
welfare.
While academic accreditation is common in colleges and universities,
this program focuses solely on certification of athletics programs.
Following a pilot project, the Division I membership overwhelmingly
supported the program and its standards at the 1993 NCAA Convention.
The University of Houston completed its first certification self-study
in 1996. At the 1997 NCAA 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. Thus, the current self-study is the second
in the certification process for the University of Houston.
The certification program's purpose is to help ensure integrity
in the institution's athletics operations. It opens up athletics
to the rest of the university/college community and to the public.
Institutions will benefit by increasing campus-wide awareness and
knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths and
developing plans to improve areas of concern.
The committee responsible for the study includes President Gogue;
Richard Scamell, NCAA faculty athletics representative; various
members of the university’s faculty and staff; and athletics
department personnel.
Within each area studied by the committee, the program has standards,
called operating principles, which were adopted by the Association
to place a “measuring stick” by which all Division I
members are evaluated.
Once the University of Houston has concluded its study in May,
an external team of reviewers will conduct a two-day minimum evaluation
visit on campus. This visit is scheduled to take place October 16-18,
2006. The reviewers will be peers from other colleges, universities
or conference offices. That team will report to the NCAA Division
I Committee on Athletics Certification, another independent group.
The committee will then determine the institution's certification
status and announce the decision publicly. For institutions that
fail to conduct a comprehensive self-study or to correct problems,
tough sanctions can be imposed.
The three options of certification status are: (a) certified; (b)
certified with conditions; and (c) not certified. While universities/colleges
will have an opportunity to correct deficient areas, those universities/colleges
that do not take corrective actions may be ruled ineligible for
NCAA championships.
The NCAA is a membership organization of colleges and universities
that participate in intercollegiate athletics. The primary purpose
of the Association is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an
integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral
part of the student body. Activities of the NCAA membership include
formulating rules of play for NCAA sports, conducting national championships,
adopting and enforcing standards of eligibility, and studying all
phases of intercollegiate athletics.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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