Sept. 19, 2001
GREENSBORO, N. C. - Issues relating to the welfare of Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes and their experiences on campus highlighted a recent meeting of the nine Chief Executive Officers of the ACC in their annual fall meeting, held September 5-6 on the Duke University Campus in Durham, N.C., and chaired by Duke President Nannerl Keohane.
One of the issues discussed, the proliferation of football games to non-traditional days of the week, resulted in a consensus of the nine schools agreeing to limit regular-season football games to Thursdays and Saturdays, bypassing the opportunity to hold football games on other days. This decision would not affect holiday weekend games such as those on Labor Day or Thanksgiving weekends, but would be in effect during the intervening weeks.
Discussions were also held regarding several national issues from the Knight Commission Report and the Equity Conferences meeting held in Chicago, in which two CEOs and the Commissioner participated from each of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, PAC 10 and Southeastern Conferences. Presidents John Casteen of Virginia, Thomas Hearn of Wake Forest represented the ACC as well as Commissioner John Swofford at that meeting.
The ACC Presidents believe the Equity Conference meetings provide a good, solid forum for schools with athletic programs that share a number of common features to look at pressing national issues. Discussion at this meeting focused on issues of student-athlete welfare and the experiences of student-athletes on campus.
The Presidents have asked Commissioner Swofford, and the athletic directors, faculty representatives and senior woman administrators of ACC institutions to gather information in several areas of concern and propose possible steps to be taken to address these concerns. They include:
1. Correcting methods of calculating graduation
rates of student-athletes to reflect positively when a student in good academic standing transfers to another institution. Currently, schools are penalized for this.
2. Reviewing the status of summer and voluntary workouts.
3. Studying the future of post-season college football, including the time period allocated for it.
4. Studying the effect on student-athletes and their academic experiences of the expanding length of athletic seasons in all sports, with the goal of halting or reversing this trend if the evidence shows reason for concern.
Finally, the CEO's elected Wayne Clough of Georgia Tech for a four-year term to represent the ACC and replace Virginia's John Casteen on the NCAA Board of Directors.
