It’s Monday at the NCAA convention, the day in which Division III member schools vote on the various legislative proposals.

It’s not a day in which they will vote on whether to split into two divisions. We have at least another year before that happens, and perhaps more, since we’ve heard discussion that it may be delayed from its planned 2009 convention date. But there are other proposals on the docket as well that will have an impact on Division III.

The basketball season will start on Nov. 15 in 2008 and in the future after a vote that passed 248-185 with two abstentions. Currently Oct. 15 is the first date of practice but the date of the first game is subject to the calendar (the Friday before Thanksgiving). This would make it more consistent, though Opening Night would float during the week as Nov. 15 does.

This means the 2008 season will open a whole six nights earlier than usual, 12 days before Thanksgiving … and the night before Division III football’s Selection Sunday!

The usage of male practice players was restricted in women’s sports, in another key vote. It passed narrowly, 223-206 with 17 abstentions (presumably from single-gender schools). It allows use only one day a week, among other cutbacks. Practice players must be declared eligible and use a season of intercollegiate eligibility in order to participate. Only three men can be used in a basketball practice, six in soccer, three in volleyball, or half of the typical starting lineup, rounded up.

Division III members voted overwhelmingly to ban text messaging to prospective recruits. Or, more specifically, they voted to limit electronic transmission of correspondence with recruits to e-mail and faxes. So, no text messages, no Facebook/MySpace, no IMs, etc. It passed by a vote of 362-72 with two abstentions, with good turnout from Division III schools.

A proposal to allow student-athletes to work at schools’ camps passed overwhelmingly as well, 425-13 with two abstentions.

Further proposals of note got voted down, then withdrawn. A proposal to allow provisional Division III members to be counted toward meeting a league’s seven-member automatic bid requirements failed 252-185-7. This was a proposed amendment to another proposal that was then withdrawn. Another proposal, to lift the ban on new single-sport conferences, was pulled from the agenda. This primarily affects women’s ice hockey but could have a football impact as well.

It’s important to note that, while many people assume that rules in Division III come down from the NCAA national office as if engraved on stone tablets, in fact Division III schools vote on all legislation and the membership shapes the rules.