Columbia and Barnard have announced the completion of their National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Self-Study report, the first by an Ivy League school since the association established the requirement for Division I institutions in 1993. Four University committees, composed of faculty, administrators and students, worked for more than a year to complete the report, which describes all facets of intercollegiate athletics at Columbia and Barnard.

The NCAA now asks institutions to conduct a self-study every five years to open their athletic affairs to the university community and the public, to help set standards for the operation of athletic programs and to detect and correct any deficiencies. The study examines governance and rules compliance, academic integrity, fiscal integrity, and commitment to equity.

Provost Jonathan Cole will hold an open meeting at Noon on Oct. 18 in Ferris Booth Hall to discuss the report, NCAA certification and other issues pertaining to intercollegiate athletics.

Major conclusions contained in the report include the following:

Governance and Rules Compliance

• Athletics at Columbia and Barnard are under the firm control of the University, with the Provost and Dean of the Faculties (the University's chief academic officer) overseeing intercollegiate athletics.

• Decisions regarding intercollegiate athletics are made through the committee structure of the Ivy League and through the structures of the Columbia University/Barnard College Athletic Consortium.

• Rules compliance is the subject of an ongoing educational effort at Columbia College, SEAS and Barnard.

• The Varsity "C" Club--the official athletic "booster" organization--is firmly under the control of the University and the athletics department.

Academic Integrity

• Student-athletes are admitted to Columbia College, SEAS and Barnard College in the same way as all other students.

• No student is admitted unless deemed capable of completing college in four years.

• Columbia College, SEAS and Barnard College do not offer athletic grants-in-aid and student-athletes are not admitted by special exception.

• The admissions profiles of recruited student-athletes do not differ appreciably from non-athlete students.

• Graduation rates reveal no fundamental discontinuity between student-athletes and non-athlete students.

Fiscal Integrity

• Although athletics does raise money for its programs, athletics at Columbia are funded primarily the way other University activities are.

• Athletics is subject to normal University financial controls.

• There are no sources of revenue for athletics that are not under the accounting and financial control of the University.

• The University Planning and Budgeting Committee determines financial guidelines for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education.

• The athletics department has instituted new procedures to track and control expenses associated with official recruiting visits.

Commitment to Equity

• Two "emerging" sports for women--field hockey and lacrosse--have been added, with the assumption that each will become a varsity sport by 1998-99. The creation of a third new women's varsity sport (softball) is possible.

• To allow for the new women's lacrosse and field hockey teams, the playing field of Wien Stadium was replaced with state-of-the-art artificial surface during the summer of 1995 at a cost of nearly $1.4 million.

• The athletics department has entered into discussions with sports "friends" groups about merging men's and women's "friends" groups for the same sport by the end of 1995-96. Groups for fencing and swimming/diving have already been merged.

• The athletics department has instituted a new grievance procedure in accordance with NCAA guidelines.

• The University and the athletics department have commissioned and carried out surveys to determine students' athletics needs and desires.