Division III
From Free net encyclopedia
Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. The division consists of colleges and universities with less competitive collegiate athletic programs. There are over 420 member institutions, making DIII the largest of the three divisions sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
DIII schools range in size from less than 500 to over 10,000 students. DIII schools are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Eight D-3 schools do currently offer scholarships in a capacity as grandfathered schools, which traditionally participated in the highest levels of single sports prior to the tiering of schools into divisions. These teams compete at the Division I level, while the remainder of their athletic program remains D-3. They are Clarkson University (men's and women's ice hockey), Colorado College (men's ice hockey and women's soccer), Hartwick College (men's soccer, women's water polo), Johns Hopkins University (men's and women's lacrosse), SUNY Oneonta (men's soccer), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (men's and women's ice hockey), Rutgers University-Newark (men's volleyball), and St. Lawrence University (men's and women's ice hockey). Each school has the right to offer scholarships in one men's and one women's sport.
Recent changes
In 2003, concerned about the direction of the Division, the Division III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell, acted to limit the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons, eliminate so-called "red-shirting", and redefine a season of participation, all of which were approved by a majority vote of the membership. An additional proposal which would have eliminated the ability of the institutions listed above to offer athletics scholarships was rejected, though rules limiting the exception to only those schools currently offering DI programs was approved. These actions took place at the January 2004 NCAA Convention.