Colleges and universities in Division III place highest priority
on the overall quality of the 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:
a. Place special importance on the impact of athletics on the
participants rather than on the spectators and place greater
emphasis on the internal constituency (students, alumni,
institutional personnel) than on the general public and its
entertainment needs;
b. Award no athletically related financial aid to any
student;
c. Encourage the development of sportsmanship and positive
societal attitudes in all constituents, including student-athletes,
coaches, administrative personal and spectators;
d. Encourage participation by maximizing the number and variety
of athletics opportunities for their students;
e. Assure that the actions of coaches and administrators
exhibit fairness, openness and honesty in their relationships with
student-athletes;
f. Assure that athletics participants are not treated
differently from other members of the student body;
g. Assure 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;
h. Provide equitable athletics opportunities for males and
females and give equal emphasis to men?s and women?s sports;
i. Support ethnic and gender diversity for all constituents;
j. Give primary emphasis to regional in-season competition and
conference championships; and
k. Support student-athletes in their efforts to reach high
levels of athletics performance, which may include opportunities
for participation in national championships, by providing all teams
with adequate facilities, competent coaching and appropriate
competitive opportunities.
