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: A Required Day Off for Civic Engagement
NCAA Division I playing season rules require that, during the season, all countable athletically related activities (CARA) -- that is, any required activity with an athletics purpose involving student-athletes at the direction of, or supervised by, one or more of an institution's coaching staff, including strength and conditioning coaches, and must be counted within the weekly and daily limitations -- shall be prohibited during one (1) calendar day per week.
The only exception to the required day off per week during a playing season is during a student-athlete’s participation in one conference championship, one postseason championship such as NCAA or NIT tournaments, and any postseason bowl games for football student-athletes.
Earlier this week, the NCAA Division I Council took the required day off concept and bridged it with the importance of a national election coming this November.
The Division I Council adopted noncontroversial legislation to specify that all CARA shall be prohibited on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This provision enables student-athletes (and coaches, staff, etc) more open time on their November 3, 2020, schedule to get to the polls and vote.
Of particular note behind this legislative move is the leadership that Division I student-athletes demonstrated in bringing this concept to fruition. This legislation was proposed by the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee with the goal of providing student-athletes with more opportunities to participate in civic engagement (e.g., voting, volunteering, community service).
This legislation is effective immediately but is not applicable to teams with contests on Election Day that were scheduled before July 17, 2020. Absentee ballots, voting on game day (earlier in the day before evening competition) or rescheduling the game on Election Day are various alternative solutions to enable student-athletes’ ability to vote.
Some Division I schools and their campus SAACs were mobilizing in recent months on a variety of social justice and civic engagement opportunities including taking Election Day off before this week’s Division I Council action.
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.
