The University's athletics department will undergo a recertification in compliance with National Collegiate Athletic Association accreditation regulations to determine if athletics is sufficiently integrated into the school community. Required every 10 years, the process will yield a report that is expected to reveal that the diversity of athletic staff continues to be limited, committee members say.
In addition to a steering committee, three subcommittees will oversee the recertification process: one focusing on academic integrity, another on governance and commitment to compliance and a third on equity and student-athlete welfare.
These committees are comprised of a diverse array of Brown community members, including students, faculty, staff and alums.
"The whole idea is to get involved a broad representation of the University community," said Dick Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president and chair of the steering committee. "It's designed to include in the process as many perspectives as possible. This is partly at the specifications of the NCAA and partly our own instinct," he said.
Michael Goldberger, director of athletics and a member of the steering committee, said failing the accreditation is unlikely. "I don't think Brown is particularly worried about not passing," he said. "This department is an amazingly good one, which is true of most institu-tions like Brown."
Goldberger said despite being optimistic that Brown will pass, the committees intend to focus on how the Department of Athletics can improve.
"The fact that we'll probably pass this is not a reason to not take this seriously," he said. "Instead, there will be areas where we'll discover we're not as good as we should be."
Goldberger noted that though the evaluation process is still under way, he foresees the department's diversity as a slight concern.
"Diversity is one thing that is important to the NCAA," he said. "I don't think our department is as diverse as it should be."
Howard Chudacoff, professor of history and a co-chair of the subcommittee on governance and commitment to compliance, said diversity among staff was also a problem 10 years ago during the last recertification process.
"The larger issue is the way in which athletics reflects the larger community and American society," he said. "There we have tried hard but not succeeded in terms of making the athletic administration and the coaches diverse and reflective of the general population."
Spies told The Herald that if this perceived lack of diversity is confirmed in the report, the University will present a plan to resolve it to the NCAA.
Chudacoff said the University benefited in several ways from the last accreditation. "One of the major things that happened over the last 10 years is the integration of the Brown University Sports Foundation into the larger apparatus of University administration and development," he said.
He also said the previous accreditation process facilitated further understanding of the athletic community at Brown, but that much still needs to be learned.
"We certainly have gotten to know more of the academic aspects of student athletes. We still need to know a lot more," he said.
Goldberger agreed there is still much to learn. "I think that it's important that we do this," he said. "I think it's important that an organization holds us to a certain standard so we can improve."
Spies echoed Goldberger's sentiment that this is a chance for reflection on the role of athletics at the University.
"We see this as an opportunity to look at what we are doing in this area and to ask the questions the NCAA wants us to ask and to ask ourselves questions we normally would not ask," Spies said. "Are the programs being offered to students in a way that is to the benefit of the students? Are we really putting student welfare first and foremost?"
Chudacoff said much of the accreditation process is tedious. "In many ways it's really a reflection of the intense bu-reaucracy that the NCAA is," he said. "The recertification process is extraordinarily detailed and picky."
"But on the other had, the information that comes about from all of this - particularly the kind of extra credit work we are doing, will help improve Brown athletics and the institution as a whole," he said.
Goldberger said he expects the University will submit its report by the end of the semester. The NCAA will also appoint a visiting committee to evaluate the University in November, he said.
