INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC

COMMITTEE MEETING

October 20, 2009

 

ATTENDING:   Judy DeMers, Jeff Dodson, Brian Faison, Greg Gagnon, Daniella Irle, Sue Jeno, Bradley Rundquist, Paul Todhunter, Corey Absey, Glenn Olsen, Lowell Schweigert

 

Guests:  Sean Johnson

 

Recorder:  Alex Burbach

 

Sue Jeno called the meeting to order at 4:33 p.m. in the Memorial Room of the Student Union.  Committee members and guests then introduced themselves to Alex Burbach. 

 

Minutes:  Judy DeMers moved that the minutes from the September 16, 2009, meeting be approved as submitted.  Greg Gagnon seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Old Business:

 

Hockey Ticket Distribution Process

Sean Johnson, UND Athletics Associate Athletics Director for External Operation, spoke on the student hockey distribution process.  The reasoning behind the change from online distribution to the campout is that the campout was an opportunity for the more “dedicated” students to get season tickets rather than the online distribution which is more “chance.”  After the campout Student Government hosted an open forum where students could voice their comments and concerns about the process.  About 50 students were in attendance and the feedback was good with lots of positive discussion.

Student Government has formed a committee to provide feedback and suggestions on how the process should be approached for next year.

 

Judy DeMers voiced concerns she heard from the Medical School Students such as students being out of town for their residencies and being on-call.

 

*Please see the e-mail mail from Judy DeMers attached to the end of the minutes.  The statement was added as an amendment to the minutes at the November 17 meeting.

 

Glenn Olsen voiced safety concerns.

 

Sue Jeno voiced concern from students who work for Housing.

 

Brian Faison discussed the importance of communication with Student Government.

 

The exemption process was reviewed and discussion continued among members.

 

 

 

 

 

FAR Report: 

 

Sue Jeno said the Great West FAR’s will be meeting at their annual conference in St. Louis in the coming months. 

 

Recent concerns have been voiced by many FAR’s about the need to have the ability to have proctored exams on visiting campuses for student athletes.  This is a role Sue Jeno would play on UND’s campus.

 

A faculty member brought up that the new Missed Class Time policy doesn’t include the amount of time a student can miss in a semester.  Sue Jeno suggested that the committee look at putting the statement, “no more than…in a semester” into the policy at a later meeting.  Discussion continued on missed class time.  Glenn Olsen brought up the issues of certain sports being prone to missing more class than others due to scheduling.  Daniella Irle noted the importance of educating academic advisors to help students choose classes that will work best with their travel schedules.

 

Departmental Updates

 

Internal Operations/Compliance

 

Daniella Irle discussed a handout that shows the compliance activities for 2009-10.  Points of interest included:

 

Coach Education

            *A monthly newsletter is now being distributed to the coaches and campus          constituents.

            *Interpretation Policy- A formalized procedure has been put in place for     interpretation requests.

Monitoring Activities

            *Prospective Student-Athlete Transcript Review Form

            *The compliance coaches manual is about 80% complete and will hopefully be fully completed soon. 

External Education

            *There is now a meeting with Admissions and Housing at the beginning of each            year.

Internal Education

            *A Student-Athlete newsletter has been developed and is sent out once a month.           The newsletter discusses current events and issues in the athletic community.            Feedback has been positive.

            *A general “booster” newsletter also is sent out to season ticket holders, Fighting             Sioux Club members, etc.

 

The APR was submitted in October and corrections have yet to be made.  Brian Faison will do a presentation on the APR in November.

 

Compliance Review

 

Ice Miller Law Firm will be conducting UND’s compliance review the second week in November.  All of the preliminary information is ready to be submitted.  The preliminary information includes around 60 documents and the answers to 23 pages of questions.  The purpose of the review is to assess the state of the compliance program.  The biggest components of the review touch on the Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid and the Internal Operations/Compliance side of the Athletics Department.

 

Athletics Director

 

Facility Issues

 

Brian Faison discussed several facility issues that are taking place.  The swimming pool in the Hyslop has serious issues and is in need of major renovations.  The University is in the process of deciding the next steps to take.  There are also issues with the Hyslop weight room floor.  Nate Baukol, Director of Strength and Conditioning, has put together a plan to account for anything, shuffling of teams, etc.

 

Ongoing projects include a partnership with the Grand Forks Parks and Recreation Department regarding baseball and tennis facilities.  The plans for the indoor practice facility for football and track are also ongoing. 

 

Fan Behavior

 

Brian Faison also discussed the issue of fan behavior, particularly issues from the Minnesota Hockey series (Oct. 16-17).  The Athletics Department and Ralph Engelstad Arena are looking into ways to prevent and control these issues in the future.  Ticketing issues and profanity are the main issues. 

 

Discussion on fan behavior continued.

 

Community Service Overview

 

The SAAC is taking the lead on the community service effort.  The canned food drive raised 2100 food items in an hour.  To date there are over 2000 community service hours recorded for the year.  The total for the 2008-09 was 5500 hours.  The football and volleyball teams are each leading their own efforts to create awareness on breast cancer education. 

 

Discussion continued on community service projects.

 

 

 

 

 

At the next meeting:

 

-Academic Report

-Discussion on Fan Behavior

 

 

Two items on the agenda were tabled until a later meeting date, the role and responsibilities of the IAC and the Sports Medicine Documentation Collection. 

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:03 p.m.

 

 

*Amendment to minutes added at November 17, 2009, meeting, received as an e-mail from Judy DeMers.

 

My concern did reflect those of my students at the medical school, but were much broader.  My concern is that the new policy is discriminatory (and, yes, I used that word).  Any student with small children will find it difficult to camp out.  Married couples with small children may be forced to have one stay home and one camp out, but were only allowed to purchase one ticket.  And, medical students pay student fees but may be assigned to the Fargo, Bismarck, or Minot campuses for years 03 and 04.  That doesn't mean they quit attending hockey games, but it is difficult to participate in a camp out overnight to get tickets.  Other medical students may be out of state taking senior year electives at other institutions (not for residencies as indicated in the minutes).  I think the whole policy is geared to getting the rowdy 18 or 19 year old the tickets and discriminates against the older, more mature student (and that was clearly reflected in student behavior at the Gopher series).  I am sorry I won't be there to comment on my perception of the inaccuracy of the minutes.  I feel they are "slanted" to present one point of view.  I also noted that the "camp out" plan did not generate greater ticket sales than in the past and actually cost the department in terms of operating it.  I just think we can do better at UND.