NCAA Division I: Big Ten Acts to Support Student-Athlete Graduation
Aid will neither be reduced nor cancelled during course of enrollment. If pursuit of degree is interrupted, student-athlete is welcome back.
Source: Big Ten
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Big Ten directors of athletics, senior woman administrators and faculty representatives met Oct. 6 and 7 at the conference headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., and agreed to ensure that any student-athlete recruited to a Big Ten institution through the offer of an athletic scholarship will be guaranteed the following throughout the course of their enrollment:
• The scholarship will neither be reduced nor cancelled provided he or she remains a member in good standing with the community, the university and the athletics department.
• If a student-athlete’s pursuit of an undergraduate degree is interrupted for a bona fide reason, that student-athlete may return to the institution at any time to complete his or her degree with the assistance of an athletic scholarship.
The Big Ten will continue to work toward the implementation of additional student-athlete welfare proposals through individual institutional action, conference-wide action or under the NCAA autonomy governance structure, including full grant-in-aids to meet cost of education and improved medical insurance. The conference has also agreed to address additional issues such as health and safety, time demands and comprehensive academic support.
The Big Ten Conference is an association of 14 world-class universities committed to the pursuit and attainment of athletic and academic excellence. Big Ten institutions feature broad-based athletic programs which provide nearly $200 million in direct financial aid to almost 9,500 student-athletes on 350 teams in 42 different sports.
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The history of the Big Ten traces back nearly 120 years to the Palmer House hotel in Chicago, where on January 11, 1895, then-Purdue president James H. Smart and leaders from the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin set out to organize and develop principles for the regulation of intercollegiate athletics.
On February 8, 1896, one faculty member from each of those seven universities met at the same Palmer House and officially established the mechanics of the conference, which was officially incorporated as the “Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association” in 1905.
Indiana University and the State University of Iowa became the eighth and ninth members in 1899. In 1908, Michigan briefly withdrew its membership, and in 1912 Ohio State University joined the conference, bringing its membership total back to nine. Upon Michigan’s return in 1917, the conference was first referred to as the “Big Ten” by media members, and that name was eventually incorporated in 1987.
In 1955, the Big Ten formulated a revenue-sharing model designed to pool all football television rights of its members and share those proceeds equally. The conference and its members continue to utilize a revenue-sharing model, dividing media rights, bowl payouts and other profits among all conference institutions.
In 1981, the conference presidents and chancellors endorsed a proposal that enabled universities to affiliate their women’s intercollegiate programs with the conference, and the first conference championships for women were staged that fall. The Big Ten was the first conference to voluntarily adopt male and female participation goals after launching its Gender Equity Action Plan in 1992.
In December of 1989, the conference agreed in principle to invite Pennsylvania State University for membership. On June 4, 1990, the Council of Presidents officially voted to integrate Penn State into the conference, giving the Big Ten 11 members.
In 2004, the Big Ten implemented a pilot program of instant replay for college football. Following the season, the conference forwarded replay proposals to the NCAA regarding the future use of instant replay, where it approved country-wide testing in 2005. In 2006, the NCAA approved the use of instant replay for all conferences.
In 2006, Commissioner Delany announced the creation of the first conference-owned television network, a 20-year agreement with Fox Cable Networks to create what would become the Big Ten Network (BTN). BTN launched on August 30, 2007, and is in 60 million homes since the start of the 2014 football season. BTN is carried by all major cable, satellite and telco providers, as well as more than 300 cable operators across the United States and Canada. BTN2Go is the network’s 24/7 simulcast available on smartphones, tablets and the internet that also allows international fans to access BTN.
On June 11, 2010, the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors (COP/C) approved a formal membership application by the University of Nebraska, expanding the conference to 12 institutions. Nebraska officially joined the Big Ten Conference on July 1, 2011.
The conference expanded its footprint further in 2012 when the COP/C approved formal membership applications from the University of Maryland and Rutgers University on November 19 and 20, respectively. Maryland and Rutgers became official Big Ten members on July 1, 2014, giving the conference almost 9,500 student-athletes and more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports.
On June 3, 2013, the Big Ten announced that Johns Hopkins University had been accepted as the conference’s first sport affiliate member. Johns Hopkins’ addition in men’s lacrosse gives the Big Ten six institutions sponsoring the sport, allowing the debut of men’s lacrosse as an official conference sport and building on the Big Ten’s tradition of broad-based sports competition.
Nearly 120 years after its inception, the Big Ten remains a national leader in intercollegiate athletics on and off the field.
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Video: Big Ten Conference
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