The Council of Presidents (COP) Executive Committee met on Wednesday to review several recommendations regarding student-athlete eligibility, as well as the COVID-19 screening process scheduled to begin August 15.
ELIGIBILITY CHANGES
The National Eligibility Committee and the Council of Faculty Athletic Representatives proposed the following eligibility recommendations, both of which were APPROVED by the Executive Committee:
- Fall 2020 will be treated as a term of attendance per standard NAIA bylaws for all intents and purposes EXCEPT the 10-semester / 15-quarter limit (NAIA Bylaw Article V, Section E, Item 1). Fall 2020 will not count as a term towards this limit.
- Current and prospective student-athletes will not be charged a season of competition for non-intercollegiate play in any sport from May 16, 2020 - May 15, 2021.
SCREENING CHANGES
The Executive Committee also APPROVED two recommendations brought forth by the Athletic Trainers Association regarding the COVID-19 screening process.
- Allow non-healthcare professionals to perform COVID-19 screening for competitions, once they have completed the requisite training. The Executive Committee approved the recommendation and amended the requirement to allow any university or professional staff/contractors to serve in this role. Undergraduate students are not permitted to serve in this role.
- Adapt the current COVID-19 screening form into two documents, creating a version relying simply on "yes" and "no" answers for screenings performed by non-healthcare professionals. This allows non-healthcare professionals to refer a participant to a healthcare professional based off of a "yes" answer. Healthcare professionals will conduct their own screening using the weighted scoring system, which has also been adjusted to a standard of 3 points for withholding a participant (increased from a standard of 2 on the original rubric).
The NEC is continuing to meet to further discuss eligibility issues and will bring forward any additional recommendations to the COP Executive Committee on Aug. 19. Please email any questions to
[email protected].
