When student-athletes from schools in the Empire 8 gathered last year for what the league billed as a “summit” for exchanging ideas about issues that directly affect their lives, they also contributed to a growing list of suggestions for ways that Division III conferences are using more than $700,000 in grants this year to support such programming.

Some conferences are emulating the Empire 8’s idea of bringing student-athletes together at a central location to discuss such issues as embracing diversity and discouraging hazing; others are supporting initiatives on member schools’ campuses targeting topics ranging from underage drinking to time management to sportsmanship.

Whatever approach a conference chooses, it is using what is known as Tier Two funds from the Division III Strategic Initiatives Grant Program to support those programs – and exercising a relatively wide degree of latitude in deciding how to use those funds as the result of a transfer of responsibility for the grant program two years ago from the NCAA staff to conferences.

“In some cases, a conference or even multiple conferences will host a single, large event for student-athletes,” said Leah Nilsson, NCAA director of Division III. “Some have pooled funds between two or three geographically clustered institutions to offer more significant programming without significant travel. Still other conferences have divided funds among all member institutions.”

Although conferences annually must report to the Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee how they plan to use the funds, they otherwise enjoy considerable freedom in deciding what types of programs the money – nearly $1,800 per Division III institution – will support.

The Empire 8 apparently was the first conference to schedule a “summit” for its student-athletes, first doing so in January 2007 and doing it again this year. Other conferences now are emulating the idea.

“This is a great way that our folks came up with to make great use of these funds,” said Empire 8 Commissioner Chuck Mitrano, who suggests that such programming helps create a bond among student-athletes who play hard against each other in competition, but benefit from each others’ company after a game ends.

“It all goes back to the older days, when there may have been a rivalry between two institutions, but they may get together for pizza after the game,” he said. “That used to happen; it doesn’t happen as much. There is a natural collegiality in intercollegiate athletics – we all compete very hard, but at the same time we have a lot of respect for one another.”

A best-practices guide the Division III staff has compiled for guiding conferences in using the funds offers lengthy lists of possible programming in each of three topical areas – student-athlete well-being/community service, sportsmanship, and diversity/gender equity. Conferences are required to dedicate funds to each of those topical areas at least once in a four-year period – a requirement that annually is becoming easier to comply with as ideas for programming are shared.

Wide-ranging as the conferences’ programs may be, they all have something in common, Mitrano said.

“It’s all tied to money provided by the NCAA,” he said. “A lot of times people look at the NCAA in a negative light, and feel it doesn’t do anything for student-athletes – and that’s certainly not the case.

“These terrific experiences are possible because of the NCAA and the grant money it has provided – it’s really critical.”

Division III Director Leah Nilsson applauds the membership’s collaborative approach to Tier Two funds. / Trevor Brown Jr., NCAA Photos.