For many students, like sophomore political science major Michael Barnes, college athletics don’t reach much further than a Saturday afternoon at Huskie Stadium, or a night spent at the Convocation Center experiencing a NIU basketball game.

“A lot of the time, you’ll go to a game with a group of friends because it’s just what you do on a Saturday, and you don’t really pay attention to any behind-the-scenes stuff during the week because you’ve got so much going on with classes and other commitments,” said Barnes.

The “behind-the-scenes stuff” is currently a major focus for the athletic department this year, however, as NIU is up for re-certification by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The NCAA Division I Athletic Certification Handbook defines athletic certification as a means to “ensure the NCAA’s fundamental commitment to integrity in inter-collegiate athletics.”

In other words, the NCAA grants certification to schools that are running their athletic programs up to par with the operating standards that are required. This includes such things as the running of camps and clinics, as well as the investigation and reporting of rule violations to the NCAA, according to the NCAA’s Web site.

Whether or not certification is granted depends on a “self-study” conducted by a committee appointed by the university, as well as an examination by a committee sent from the NCAA to the campus.

The committee conducting NIU’s self-study is headed up by Tom Krepel, assistant to the president.

The process will take place over the next year, as the university conducts its study of the athletic program, according to Donna Turner, associate Athletic Director for Communications at NIU.

“We will turn the self-study in to the NCAA in May this year, at which point the NCAA reviews it,” Turner said. “Then next fall they will send a committee to campus to conduct interviews and verify what was included in the self-study and make the recommendation to the NCAA certification committee.”

NIU’s re-certification is still in its earliest stages, according to Turner, as the Huskies prepare for their fall sports seasons.

“We just had the first video conference with the NCAA last week, so we’re still pretty early on in the process,” Turner said.

Schools that don’t meet the NCAA’s requirements are often given a timetable to correct the problems within their program, and failure to do so may result in restricted membership for a minimum of one year. This would prevent them from competing in NCAA Championships in all sports, according to the NCAA’s certification handbook.

The NCAA first adopted the certification for Division I schools in 1993, and voted in 1997 to change the frequency of certification from every five years to every 10. This puts NIU right on schedule with the ten year cycle, according to Turner.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.