Report calls for increased oversight of intercollegiate athletics by university boards

Published: October 10, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) released “Trust, Accountability, and Integrity: Board Responsibilities for Intercollegiate Athletics,” a report that calls for enhanced board oversight of college athletics.

The report cautions that as intercollegiate athletics departments increasingly operate like businesses, boards must act to ensure an appropriate balance between athletics and academics in their institutions, or policy-makers or regulators will do it for them.

Clemson University President James F. Barker is a member of the Intercollegiate Athletics Project group, which advised the association on the report.

Its findings were announced at the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (KCIA) meeting in Washington. The report was presented by Richard D. Legon, AGB president, and John T. Casteen, president emeritus of the University of Virginia and director of the project.

The report focuses on three recommendations for appropriate board engagement:

• The governing board is ultimately accountable for athletics policy and oversight and must fulfill this fiduciary responsibility.
• The board must act decisively to uphold the integrity of the athletics program and its alignment with the academic mission of the institution.
• The board must educate itself about its policy role and oversight of intercollegiate athletics.

“In light of recent issues in college sports, it is imperative for boards to function at a higher level of awareness and judgment in order to address the financial challenges associated with college sports, to ensure the link between intercollegiate athletics and academic priorities, and to reaffirm standards and ethics in college athletics,” said Legon. 

“Chief executive officers administer their institutions’ sports programs on a daily basis,” Casteen said, “but boards must engage actively and appropriately in the policy considerations surrounding the key issues, which can have a major impact on their institutions’ financial welfare and reputation.” 

As part of the report, AGB surveyed chief executive officers and board chairmen of Division I institutions. The survey asked them how they have applied recommendations from AGB’s 2009 “Statement on Board Responsibilities for Intercollegiate Athletics” and about other governance issues related to college sports, including compliance with the rules and regulations of the NCAA and various conferences.

Some of the report’s major findings:

• As many as one fourth of the respondents stated their boards had no formal policy on intercollegiate athletics.
• Only 19 percent of respondents stated that their athletics department is self-supporting and has no need for subsidy from institutional resources.
• While 84 percent of boards reported that they receive sufficient data to monitor academic progress of athletes by team, only about a third of respondents reported having sufficient information to oversee student-athletes’ declared academic majors or the demands of sports participation on students’ time.
• Almost a third of the respondents characterized their board’s preparation to oversee compliance with NCAA rules as neutral, somewhat poor or poor.
• As many as 99 percent have programs and camps for minors, but only half have policies for protection of minors.

Many survey respondents also called for the NCAA to quicken enforcement proceedings and impose penalties in a timely manner, simplify rules, more equitably share revenue from media contracts and control the corrupting influences of money in college sports. The report recommends the NCAA. 

Include in the NCAA rule book stronger, more detailed statements about the responsibility that governing boards have for intercollegiate athletics in their institutions.

Take a stronger stance in addressing major violations and the root causes of infractions, and support institutions in makings changes in a fundamental and sustained manner.

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Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges 
The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) is the only national association that serves the interests and needs of academic governing boards, boards of institutionally related foundations, and campus CEOs and other senior-level campus administrators on issues related to higher education governance and leadership. Its mission is to strengthen, protect, and advocate on behalf of citizen trusteeship that supports and advances higher education.