By Nic LaPonte
The NCAA announced last week that the University of Portland has successfully completed the accreditation process necessary for its teams to compete in the Division One league.
The process for NCAA certification is along and involved one, taking up to an entire year to complete.
The school must not only perform a self audit, but also be inspected by official NCAA personnel.
As part of the process, the report made by the school on its own activities is made publicly available, and can be viewed at www.portlandpilots.com.
The University of Portland first earned its NCAA accreditation in 1996, and ever since has met the standards for academic integrity, the governance and commitment to NCAA rules as well as ensuring student-athlete welfare and equity.
The committee in charge of the study this year was headed by Sr. Maria Ciriello, O.P. and consisted of University President the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., various members of the University faculty and staff, and Athletics Department personnel.
Because the committee focuses solely on the accreditation of athletic programs, the chair had to be selected from outside the auspices of the Athletics Department. Ciriello is the dean of the School of Education and had to balance her normal duties with this extra workload.
"The self-study offers a unique opportunity to educate individuals across campus about the athletics program's goals and purposes, the many challenges facing athletics and the ways in which athletics support the institution's overall mission," Ciriello said.
The certification, along with the self-study, is in place to ensure integrity throughout an NCAA school's athletic operations.
For those schools that do not qualify for re-certification, any number of sanctions, from minor punishments to loss of competitive status, can apply.
Some schools that do not qualify for re-certification are placed on a list of conditional accreditation. In addition to the University of Portland being accredited, 46 other schools were also certified as NCAA compliant.
The certification is done on a 10-year cycle, and should not be confused with the more publicized NCAA enforcement committee, which investigates infractions. The certification is a regular process and not a disciplinary measure.
The self-study is the most time-consuming part of the endeavor, taking an entire year to survey and ascertain weather or not a school is fully compliant with NCAA regulations. When completed, the study preformed by the UP panel was 136 pages long, and covered in detail all 16 of the Division One teams that play here.
The outside committee that comes to verify the report consists of members of the NCAA, other school's athletic department representatives, and faculty.
By successfully completing the recertification process, UP will be fully eligible for NCAA play for another 10 years, barring any disciplinary infractions.
