College Director of Athletics Peter Gooding explained, however, that the new changes will have little affect on the College or on other New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools. Gooding believes that the new financial aid reporting policy, which would require schools to submit annual reports comparing the aid packages granted to athletes and non-athletes, was a response to "widespread accusations of the manipulation of financial aid packages [to sway athletes' college decisions]." He added that such manipulation "is not a problem at Amherst because we are a need-blind school."
Head football coach E.J. Mills believes there is no need to pad financial aid packages for accepted student-athletes. "It's so hard to get in here, quite frankly, that when someone is accepted, families are willing to make a great sacrifice," he said.
"[The reforms were] aimed at a different level of Division III," said baseball coach Bill Thurston. "That's why they won't have any affect on NESCAC schools."
Proposal 61, which passed on a 238-180 vote, will shorten the playing season to 18 weeks in the fall and 19 weeks in the winter and spring. Another proposal included the same provision as well as one that would reduce the allowable number of games by 10 percent for all sports, but that proposal failed on a 151 to 262 vote.
Because NESCAC already requires its schools to operate on shorter seasons than other Div. III schools, Proposal 61 will have no impact on athletics at the College. Mills believes that if the conference had enacted the proposal to eliminate playing during "non-traditional" seasons, which failed on a 182-283 vote, then "that might have leveled the playing field for NESCAC schools [in relation to other schools]." This is because some teams, primarily baseball and soccer, have extra practices and competitions during their off-seasons. Teams in schools that, in accordance with NESCAC regulations, limit play to the traditionally-recognized season are disadvantaged, according to Mills.
Brad Coffey '04 is the chair of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at the NESCAC level and represents NESCAC and the Little East Conferences in the National SAAC. He spoke on behalf of student-athletes at the conference and advocated legislation that changed the student-athlete transfer process. He believes student-athletes should be able to self-release from their institutions, allowing them to talk to other athletic departments without having to go through their current coaches.
"As the NESCAC representative, I feel that the convention went well because not only did the membership take strides in a direction consistent with the NESCAC philosophy, but as student-athletes we were able to protect some of our fundamental rights as students first," Coffey said.
Although the College follows NESCAC standards, President Anthony Marx remains committed to improvements throughout the NCAA. "We are interested in reforms across the NCAA," Marx said. "We continue to discuss as a faculty and with our fellow NESCAC presidents possible ... adjustments of various issues related to athletics."
Members of the conference passed other proposals, one of which limits practices in non-traditional seasons to 16 days in most sports, including only one day for competition. Another successful proposal will eliminate a practice called redshirting, in which coaches allow athletes to sit out of competition for a year and still retain their eligibility to play in following years.