Both a membership survey earlier this year and a recent series of Town Hall Meetings made two things clear: Division III members disagree on many subjects, but nearly all agree that the division is the place where they want to be.

After Division III’s decision earlier this year not to support creation of a new division or to subdivide, those Town Hall Meetings represented the division’s willingness to continue trying to tease out possible long-term solutions to expansion-related stresses as it grows to 450 members and beyond.

“I came away from all three forums with a sense that folks are reaffirming their place in Division III,” said Dan Dutcher, NCAA vice president for Division III. “They have a desire to better articulate the fundamental principles that lead the division.”

There also may be a need to better articulate the problems facing the division before it will be possible to reach consensus on how best to address such issues as continuing to offer an attractive and competitive level of play for student-athletes within the division’s nonscholarship philosophy; maintaining championships opportunities as well as support for educationally oriented programming; and holding current and future members accountable for meeting agreed-upon membership obligations.

Town Hall Meeting participants seemed to confirm a list of concerns that emerged from last spring’s membership survey, offering varying views during gatherings in Indianapolis, Boston and San Antonio on such questions as the importance of national championships in a division that historically has valued conference and regional competition, the desire to treat student-athletes like other students in the awarding of financial aid, and the struggle to limit athletics time commitments and ensure opportunities to participate in other campus activities.

The effort to articulate those challenges and begin identifying broadly acceptable approaches to maintaining a common purpose in Division III is continuing this summer on two fronts.

First, various committees in the Division III governance structure are reviewing comments from the Town Hall Meetings to determine steps they may be able to propose for dealing with issues identified by the membership survey.

Second, the Division III Presidents Council plans to develop and share with the membership a series of “white papers” exploring issues the division will face during the next decade. A Council subcommittee led by Widener President James Harris plans to share an initial draft of the papers with the Division III Presidents and Chancellors Advisory Group, which will meet with Council members August 6 in Indianapolis.

That plan is designed to bring presidents of Division III member institutions – some of whom attended the Town Hall Meetings that otherwise attracted mostly athletics directors, conference commissioners and coaches as participants – squarely into the center of future discussions about solutions to growth-related concerns.

“It is crucial … that presidents and chancellors remain actively involved in the evolution of this discussion,” Franklin & Marshall President John Fry, who chairs the Presidents Council, wrote in a recent letter to presidential colleagues at Division III institutions. “More than ever, presidential leadership is necessary to ensure that the future direction of Division III is consistent with our fundamental educational philosophy related to intercollegiate athletics.”