Mike responded to Ryan Robbin's post with a couple of long quotes
from Don Yaeger's book (*Undue Process:...*).  Mike, ya gotta
consider the source:  Yaeger is a notorious muck-raker with a passion
for disregarding facts that don't fit his thesis.  He also has
written about football (the title, I believe, is *The 100 Yard Lie*
or something close to that), and there too managed to scrunch
together a bunch of truths, half-truths, and downright wrong facts
into a passionate denunciation.
 
Anyway, without going thru those quotes line-by-line, a few comments:
 1) NCAA investigators must present their findings (preliminary or
otherwise) to the Committee on Infractions, which decides what will
or won't happen.  The committee's membership is composed of 6
represenatives from member colleges or conferences and 2 persons with
no connections to any athletic interest (college or otherwise).  Note
the complete absence of any NCAA staff on this committee.  2) The
NCAA Council is a 46-person group composed entirely of
representatives from member institutions (divided between Divs. I,
II, and III).  3) Interpretations can be made by an NCAA staffer (on
request from an institution) and such an interpretation is binding.
But it can be appealed to the Committee on Interpretations, which is
composed (you guessed it!) of representatives of member institutions.
 The Council also has a role in this. And, a disputed interpretation
can be brought up at the annual convention, where it requires an
affirmative vote to remain in effect.  (Hardly a sinister
process...).
 
Finally, I don't know about all those other tired-out, uninformed
representatives, but our people go to the convention well-prepared
and ready to vote.  Discussions are held at the conference level,
among the AD's, with the president, and with the Athletic Board prior
to the convention, and the College's position is carefully plotted
out for every issue that will come up on the floor.  & somehow I
don't think Canisius and the MAAC are the only ones to take the
proposed legislation seriously.
 
Anyway, it's not that I'm a great fan of the NCAA -- but I have to
support Ryan's point:  anything that happens in the NCAA reflects
the will -- for better or worse -- of the member institutions, not
the NCAA staff.
 
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Dr. Stephen E. Roth                [log in to unmask]
Dean of Student Services
Canisius College                            (716) 888-2522
Buffalo, New York 14226                 FAX (716) 888-3190
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