Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Term-in-Ology:The Required Day Off for Civic Engagement Coming Tuesday
This coming Tuesday is Election Day— the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That same date is also the annual date for the NCAA’s new required day off for civic engagement. The required day off was to facilitate student-athletes opportunity to vote as well as participate in volunteer, social justice, and service activities.
This date is now protected via NCAA legislation to support student-athlete engagement opportunities. The relatively new rule was tweaked this past June to accommodate student-athletes and teams who were in the fall championship season in order to provide some flexibility on taking the required day off another day around this time of year.
Specifically, the new NCAA language adopted in June requires NCAA schools to have a civic engagement policy through a collaborative process involving student-athletes and athletics department staff. Further, the revisions included new language permitting teams in their championship segment to engage in countable athletically related activity (aka practice, train, etc.) on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November provided student-athletes are given a day off from countable athletically related activities to participate in civic engagement activities and programming within 15 days before or after the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Teams in their championship season participating in countable activity on Election Day are still expected to support student-athletes opportunity to go and vote.
The rationale for these adopted revisions was a recognition that a uniform, national day off may not be feasible, especially for sports that are participating in their championship segments. Sports in championship season can participate in countable athletically-related activities during the most crucial portion of the playing season without interruption but would ensure a day off is provided to civically engage. Finally, this proposal promotes collaboration between student-athletes, coaches and administrators to develop policies, which must include, at minimum, civic engagement opportunities available to student-athletes, to allow student-athletes to have dedicated time off from athletics to vote and meaningfully engage with their communities.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
