NCAA Division III Philosophy

• Colleges and universities in Division III place highest priority on the overall quality of a student's educational experience and on the successful completion of all students' academic programs. They seek to establish and maintain an environment in which a student-athlete's athletics activities are conducted as an integral part of the student-athlete's educational experience. They also seek to establish and maintain an environment that values cultural diversity and gender equity among their student-athletes and athletics staff.

To achieve this end, Division III institutions:

• Place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators and greater emphasis on the internal constituency (students, alumni, institutional personnel) than on the general public and its entertainment needs;

• Award no athletically related financial aid to any student;

• Encourage the development of sportsmanship and positive societal attitudes in all constituents, including student-athletics, coaches, administrative personnel and spectators;

• Encourage participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities in varsity, junior varsity, club and intramural sports;

• Ensure that the actions of coaches and administrators exhibit fairness, openness and honesty in their relationships with student-athletes;

• Ensure that athletics participants are not treated differently from other members of the student-body;

• Ensure the integration of student-athletes into institutional life;

• Ensure that athletics programs support the institution's educational mission by financing, staffing and controlling the programs through the same general procedures as other departments of the institution;

• Provide equitable athletics opportunities for males and females and give equal emphasis to men's and women's sports;

• Give primary emphasis to regional in-season and conference competition; and

• Support students in their efforts to reach high levels of performance, which may include opportunities for participation in national championships, by providing all teams with adequate facilities, competent coaching and appropriate competitive opportunities with students from similar institutions.