The Rotunda

Issue date: 9/24/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Chelsea Place Kyle Centers, Sports Editor

Last January NCAA Division II institutions voted on and approved a program that would allow Canadian universities to apply for membership. The vote was 97 percent in favor, including two abstentions. The original deadline to apply was June 1 this past summer, but none of the qualifying schools jumped at the opportunity.

One of the first hopefuls was the University of British Columbia, who had expressed an interest in joining in the past, but it wasn't until this past week that UBC started actively considering applying for membership, holding a series of meetings for the faculty, staff and surrounding community to discuss the feasibility of going D-II. They are still hesitant about the offer, however, because of varying opinions on the matter.

Some think becoming a D-II member is a lateral move as far as the competition level, and the only way it should join the NCAA is if it can be a Division I school. In the current system however, the university would only be eligible for Division II membership, even though one team would be able to compete at the Division I level for men and one team for women.

Longwood's own recent ascension to D-I gives us the perspective to understand where UBC is coming from when they say they want to come in as a D-I institution and not at D-II, but I'm not convinced the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) is at the same level of competition as Division I, especially considering intercollegiate sports in Canada are not nearly as popular as college athletics in the U.S., particularly outside of sports like football, basketball and of course hockey.

According to an article in "The Province," there isn't much of an upside to going D-II other than "being able to do a little more for the student athlete in the way of full scholarships." It also mentions the real question is whether or not to eventually achieve D-I status and that UBC athletics director Bob Phillip isn't being clear on his plans.

If UBC ultimately plans to became a D-I institution then the logical plan would be to apply and enter at D-II, play the field a few years while getting used to the NCAA's rules and academic regulations, then see what happens once they've been tried at that level.

Continued...

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