NCAA Division III Philosophy
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;
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.
