NJCAA Board Of Directors Yield Significant Rule Changes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After significant discussion and debate at the Wyndham Tampa Westshore in Tampa, Fla., March 26-29, the 54 members of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Board of Directors voted and passed several by-law proposals that will bring about important changes to the nations’ second-largest intercollegiate athletic organization.

The most significant change was the adoption of a proposal from Region 6 (Kansas) to limit the number of non-U.S. citizen student-athletes that can be certified on an NJCAA eligibility roster. That number shall be no more than one-quarter of the total number of Letter of Intent/Scholarships. Currently, NJCAA by-laws limit the number of non-U.S. citizen’s that can be signed to a Letter of Intent/Scholarship. With the adoption of the new legislation, the number of international athletes able to be certified for participation on a team roster will be limited. The proposal passed by a 30-21 vote and will go in effect August 1, 2012.

Other significant proposals that were approved by the Board of Directors includes a new by-law that prohibits repeat courses passed by a student-athlete to be counted multiple times for NJCAA eligibility and another measure that puts a limit on the number of credits that can be obtained for NJCAA eligibility via CLEP exams. Both will be implemented August 1, 2012.

Altogether, the NJCAA Board of Directors passed 30 proposals that will be incorporated into the NJCAA Constitution and By-Laws on August 1, 2011 Note: several proposals were marked for a delayed implementation date of August 1, 2012

This year’s NJCAA annual meeting was also the last under the direction of President Art Becker of Scottsdale Community College (Ariz.) whose second term in the position ends July 31, 2011. Upon closing this year’s meetings, Becker was presented the 2011 NJCAA Appreciation Award.

Running unopposed, Joe Tubb of South Plains College (Texas) was elected to serve as the 17th President of the NJCAA by a unanimous vote. Tubb was previously the First-Vice President for the Men’s Division for the past year and was the Region 5 Men’s Director from 1999-2009. He is currently serving his 28th year as athletic director at South Plains in Levelland, Texas.  His three-year term will commence on August 1, 2011.

Also running unopposed, Mick McDaniel moved up to First-Vice President of the Men’s Division, filling the void left by Tubb’s jump to President. McDaniel has served as the Second-Vice President for Men the past two years and prior to that was the Region 3 Men’s Director. The Second-Vice President position was then filled with the election of David Elder of the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association. Elder has served as the Region 17 Men’s Director since 2000.

For more on the 70th Meeting of the NJCAA Board of Directors, including adopted by-law changes, listing of awarded championship sites, sport committee reports and more visit www.njcaa.org/membership_minutes.cfm?category=minutes.