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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------