By Tim Volkmann
 
While the RIT men's and women's hockey teams will be focused on beating Niagara and Syracuse this Saturday, they will also be keeping an eye on another city about 600 miles west of Rochester.
 
The 2022 NCAA Convention kicks off today in Indianapolis and the Division III membership is scheduled to vote Saturday morning on nine proposals, including one which would grant multi-divisional athletic programs like RIT the ability to award athletic scholarships to their Division I student-athletes.
 
"This would be a game-changer for both our hockey programs," said Executive Director of Athletics Jackie Nicholson, who will be one of over 430 Division III administrators eligible to cast a vote. "The ability to offer scholarships to the young men and women we are recruiting at RIT will truly level the playing field for our Hockey Programs and they will be able to truly operate at the Division I level."
 
There are currently 10 institutions which compete primarily at the Division III level, but also sponsor at least one Division I sport. However, RIT is one of five which elevated a program after 2004 when a bylaw was passed limiting multi-divisional departments from applying all Division I legislation, including the ability to award athletic scholarships, to its Division I sports.
 
"From a fairness standpoint, we are at a pretty significant recruiting disadvantage compared to other schools which have the ability to offer scholarships," said Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach Celeste Brown '15. "We hear from recruits about how RIT has amazing opportunities academically and athletically, but the reality is, not being able to offer financial support puts them in a predicament when other schools they are looking at do."
 
Should Saturday's vote pass, RIT, Union (men's and women's hockey), Hobart (men's lacrosse), Franklin & Marshall (wrestling) and MIT (rowing) would all be permitted to offer scholarships to their student-athletes.
 
The RIT men are currently in their 17th season at the Division I level after making the transition from Division III in 2005. The women are in the midst of their 10th Division I season, making the move after winning the 2012 Division III National Championship. Both teams have enjoyed their share of success despite playing competition permitted to award athletic grant-in-aid to its players. The men have won three Atlantic Hockey Championships and made three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a historic run to the 2010 Frozen Four where they finished a game short of playing for a national championship. The women also won back-to-back College Hockey America Championships in 2014 and 2015, while making one NCAA Tournament showing.
 
However, the hockey landscape has evolved in ways which make it even more of a challenge to stay competitive. The NCAA loosened its transfer rules last spring, allowing players potentially looking to compete at a different school to do so without sitting out a season. Nothing really stops players from throwing their name into the transfer portal and heading for greener pastures if a better scholarship offer presents itself.
 
"We are just hoping to get on equal footing with everyone else," said head men's coach Wayne Wilson. "Our coaching staff has always done a tremendous job attracting student-athletes who excel in the classroom and on the ice but, more often than not, it comes down to dollars and cents. When other schools are able to offer scholarships and we are not, it is much more of a challenge. We just want to be on an equal playing field with everyone else in the country."
 
The legislation already has the support of the Division III Presidents Council, National Student Athlete Advisory Committee and the Faculty Athletic Rep advisory group. While there is reason to be cautiously optimistic, it will still be up to the rest of the Division III community to cast their votes Saturday morning.
 
"We are hopeful the vote will go in our favor, as we have the support of Union College, the Liberty League, Empire 8 and several other colleagues and universities around the country. I think this would give Coach Wilson and Coach Brown the means to take their programs to the next level and we are hoping for a favorable vote on Saturday morning."

Tim Volkmann is the Director of Athletic Communications at RIT.