MEETING DATE: April 3,
2008
PERSON PRESIDING: Mike
Felts
REGULAR MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: C.
Christian, M. Felts, M. Moore,
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: C.
Riley-Tillman, D. Dosser,
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Agenda Item: January Minutes
Action Taken: The January minutes were approved.
Agenda Item: Senior Exit Interviews
Action Taken: Nita Boyce discussed the senior exit interviews that
would be conducted in the next few weeks.
She noted that all students will be interviewed online, while a sample
of students from each sport will be interviewed face-to-face. The students interviewed will have completed
their degree requirements and will be graduating this semester, so they will
not feel any pressure to answer in a certain way.
Agenda Item: Report
from David Dosser
Action Taken: David presented an informational booklet that was
prepared by the ECU Professional Sports Council This booklet discusses all of
the processes required for a student-athlete to consider when wanting to become
a professional athlete.
David
is a member of the “Division I working group to review at-risk student-athlete
issues”. David had recently returned
from the group’s meeting and shared with the committee many of the topics that
the committee was reviewing and discussing.
The group had identified several issues affecting prospective
student-athletes, current student-athletes at-risk of not graduating and was
attempting to formulate a data-driven definition of at-risk. David discussed the difficulties that
transfer student’s have and also the challenges with the rules limiting
practice time on the student-athlete.
There seems to be a limited number of hours to spend on course work.
The
issue of special talent waivers was discussed.
It was noted that 32 special talent waivers were issued last year. There is a new committee that will look at
prospective students that fall into this category. The students that will be reviewed will be
those that have a PGA of 1.8 or less. These prospective students will have to
provide certain information before being admitted. This requirement is still being developed by
the committee.
Agenda Item: Report of
Athletics Director
Action Taken: Nick Floyd noted that
Coach McCarthy had bee retained and given a 5 year contract with the details
still being worked out by the Board of Trustees.
Nick discussed the current APR penalties assessed to the basketball team. He noted that ECU had appealed the sanctions (loss of 2 scholarships and 4 hours of practice time) for many reasons, but mainly because of 1 student whose sanctions were beyond the control of the athletic department. Rosie Thompson noted that a preliminary response from the NCAA had just been received and they had denied the appeal, however they did reduce the practice time penalty from 4 hours to 2 hours. APR was discussed and the merits were debated how the current students were the ones penalized.
It was noted
that ECU will receive some financial rewards from
Agenda Item: Course Clustering
Action Taken: Nita Boyce provided date
regarding possible course clustering of athletes (the idea that athletes are
taking certain majors that are considered easier then others). Thus, the perception that athletes are being
pushed through the University. The
largest disciplines were business and communications. The Business concentration seems to reflect the
interest of the entire University while communication was noted to be of interest
possibly due to the large number of electives.
The communication major allows for 39 hours of electives. This is attractive to students who are unsure
about what they want to major in and ultimately change from an earlier major
later in their career.
Agenda
Item: Gender Equity Subcommittee
Action
Taken: Mike Felts reported the committee was making
progress. Will file a preliminary report
at the next meeting.
Next Meeting: TBD
Submitted by: Cal ChristianApril 4, 2008