You are the director of athletics at an NCAA Division I institution. In Division I, the general transfer rule does not allow men’s basketball student-athletes to transfer to another Division I institution and compete immediately.
The NCAA membership is considering changing the rule to allow Division I men’s basketball student-athletes to be immediately eligible upon transfer to another Division I institution. There is discussion that student-athletes would have to meet certain conditions, such as academic or other requirements.
Your president asked you to draft a position statement indicating whether the athletics department supports or opposes the potential rule change. The men’s basketball head coach strongly opposes the rule change; men’s basketball student-athletes, compliance staff and academic advisors support the rule change; and the faculty athletics representative supports the rule change with stringent academic requirements.
Your position statement should not exceed 600 words and should be in the following format:
1. Briefly introduce the issue.
2. Determine who will be involved in the decision-making (e.g., will you as the director of athletics make a unilateral decision, or will you try to build consensus? If the latter, how will you build consensus? What factors will influence your decision to make a unilateral decision or build consensus?).
3. Describe your strategy for handling your president’s request. For example, what, if any, research will you do before you talk with the individuals impacted? Will you talk with individuals separately or together? Will you try to mediate between the individuals? Can you get the individuals to compromise? Why do you think the individuals have different perspectives, and can you use that to help you build consensus? If you cannot build consensus, do you end up following the majority position or do you make your decision on what you think is best?
It is not necessary that you answer the questions in Nos. 1 and 2 above. The questions are merely included as prompts to help you think about how you will handle this request from your president.
