The voice of the athlete in the hierarchy of the NCAA

Bob Timmon's newly assembled student-athletes bill of rights claims that student athletes have no way to express their concerns to the NCAA.

And it is for this reason that the former Kansas track coach penned a document outlining 10 basic rights that student-athletes should expect -- without such a document, student-athletes fall victim to the NCAA's money-driven agenda.

But the NCAA feels that it consciously fills a communicative link between the student athletes and administration, and has done so for over a decade now.

"The Student Athletes Advisory Committee has always looked at ways to benefit student athletes welfare," current SAAC chairman Mike Aguirre said.

And that's exactly what the SAAC claims in its mission statement, also -- that it seeks to "enhance the total student athlete experience by promoting opportunity, protecting student-athlete welfare and fostering a positive student-athlete image."

Thirty-four delegates currently sit on the Division I SAAC -- representatives include one delegate from all 31 Division I conferences and an at large representative from Division I-A, I-AA, and I-AAA (non-football schools).

These representatives meet twice a year to discuss issues that were mentioned during conference SAAC meetings -- in 2001, the representatives also gained the right to serve as full members on all Division I committees and subcommittees.

But the SAAC's current inability to vote on the legislating board of the NCAA -- the management board -- causes its detractors to question student athletes' influence to create change within the NCAA.

The SAAC does not have representation, let alone a vote on the Board of Directors, either -- the Board of Directors is the highest administrators in the NCAA structure, and has the power to approve, reject, or table every piece of legislation that it receives. Tabling a vote sends the legislation back to the management board for more deliberation.

While athletes are required to register with the NCAA before competing in a sport, co-author of the proposed Student Athletes Bill of Rights, John Van Slyke, contends that athletes are yet to be considered full members of the NCAA because of their inability to vote on the NCAA management council.

"Maybe they call that membership," Van Slyke said. "But that's not going to get you any place when it comes to allocating resources."

While student-athletes are represented in front of the NCAA, nowhere in the NCAA manual are they referred to as "members." Section 3.1.1 of the 2002-2003 manual states that "membership is available to colleges, universities, athletics conferences or associations, and other groups that are related to intercollegiate athletics."

Former Columbia lacrosse player, Bola Bamiduro -- the 2001-2002 chairman of the Division I SAAC -- disagrees with contentions about athletes' membership in the NCAA. She not only states that athletes and coaches are members of the NCAA, but also, that a vote on management council could be detrimental to student athletes' causes, should that be a goal in the future.

Noting that many of the issues discussed on the management board do not involve student-athletes -- but rather NCAA budget issues -- Bamiduro feels that the SAAC has the luxury to be more decisive in its legislative targets without having to vote on every issue.

"I understand everyone's basic theory that a vote would be basic," Bamiduro said. "But I feel that it undermines our position within group."

Timmons and Van Slyke also maintain that a committee of students does not have the initiative to sway, what they contend to be, a top-down infrastructure.

"None of these [committees] have the strength, power or wherewithal to do anything of any significance from the standpoint of making major changes in the NCAA," Timmons said.

Bamiduro again challenges Timmons and Van Slyke, maintaining that she witnessed athletes' opportunities to voice their opinions.

"I was very impressed with how much the NCAA looked to us to spearhead legislation," Bamiduro said.

The Division I SAAC functions as the top tier of the committee's three-tiered structure -- it focuses on national issues, affecting student-athletes throughout the NCAA.

Under it, sit the conference and campus SAACs, which Ivy League executive director Jeff Orleans claims have more influence on the student-athletes' everyday lives than petitioning the national body.

"I believe that where it happens is at home," Orleans said. "The way to begin change is at home, because that's where everything happens in the first place."

Over the past year, the Council of Ivy Presidents deliberated over the amount of time that teams can practice during the academic season, eventually legislating that Ivy teams would be restricted from practice for seven weeks per season.

And while the decision emerged against the student-athletes' ideal wishes, the Ivy League SAAC feels more than content that it voiced its opinions to the Ivy presidents who voted on the matter.

"We got all of the legislation proposed by the coaches, that eventually went into the presidents hands," said Princeton rower Hannah August, who is the current Ivy representative to the Division I SAAC.

Thomas vonReichbauer, Penn's representative to the Ivy SAAC, feels that while the "seven week rule" is not ideal for athletes, the Ivy presidents could have legislated harsher had the SAAC not voiced itself on the issue.

The seven week rule "is a difficult thing for some teams to deal with, especially because of specific teams' schedules," vonReichbauer said. "But it turned out as one the better scenarios. A lot worse alternatives could have happened."

Although vonReichbauer feels that student-athletes have the opportunity to voice their opinions through the SAAC, he sometimes wonders how much the decision makers take these views into account.

"I think in terms of who we are most likely to report to, we have a good say," vonReichbauer said.

Last year, the Ivy presidents denied two issues that were unanimously agreed upon by the Ivy SAAC -- the topics included JV competition at Heptagonal championships and moving the competitive start date of volleyball.

While vonReichbauer acknowledges that the Ivy presidents may have a different agenda or hold different information than the SAAC, he sometimes wonders how much weight students' opinions hold.

"When athletes vote for something unanimously in favor, and when something like that gets voted down, I have a tough time," vonReichbauer said.

That the NCAA structures the SAAC in a tier-format means that should a student-athlete have a problem, he initiates it with the campus SAAC. A successful petition will climb the rankings of the lower levels of the SAAC before the issue reaches the body's top committee.

Even then, however, there is no guarantee that the NCAA legislators will heed the national SAAC's requests.

Van Slyke worries that the structure of the SAAC allows issues pertaining to national welfare to get lost in the multitudes of committees.

"I believe that [the SAAC] is very convenient for fragmenting the opposition," Van Slyke said. "It's an organizational structure that makes it very difficult for students and parents to have any meaningful communication with NCAA -- and I think that's how they want it."

But if the SAAC is the key component of an NCAA conspiracy, it certainly has fooled its most involved members.

About the Series For the next four days, The Daily Pennsylvanian will investigate student-athletes' rights. The DP will focus on how student-athletes can approach the NCAA with concerns, and will discuss the contention that student-athletes lack a voice within the NCAA hierarchy. Using documents penned both within and outside of the NCAA, the DP will also examine how these works will serve to accentuate student-athletes' rights in the future.

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