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JANUARY 27, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

News and notes on the largest and best Division in the NCAA. #whyD3
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Headlines
⚽️ Recapping the Presidents, Management Council meetings
🎯 Trump May Target Institutions With $1B+ Endowments
🏒 Polar Bears Topple Top-Ranked Panthers
👀 Top Plays

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TOP STORY
1. Presidents Council Recap

The NCAA Division III Presidents Council met on January 15 in Nashville, following a meeting of the DIII Management Council the previous day.

» 2028 Basketball (W) Championship. The council approved $250,000 in funding for the DIII final in Indianapolis as part of the combined NCAA women’s championships.

» Mental Health Training. The council approved funding for a partnership with Mental Health First Aid to provide mental health training to all Division III head coaches and athletic trainers. The cost per institution is $5,000 or $2.1 million.

» Livestreaming. The council was informed that the annual cost to produce the livestreams for ESPN+ (women’s volleyball, basketball championships) will be approximately $300,000 per year rather than the previously budgeted $500,000. Last fall, 210 competitions were streamed through the NCAA.com/Hudl partnership with viewers watching 11.5 million minutes of live content versus 2.3 million last year.

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» Soccer. The Championships Committee opted not to support a proposal from the committees to move the championships back one week.

» Appointments. Anthony Scola, VP for enrollment management and marketing at North Park, and Anthony Berich, executive director of athletics at Stockton, were named to the Management Council. Edward Zazzali of WPI and Imani Gonzalez of Baruch were named to the SAAC.

» Continue Reading

ADMINISTRATION
2. Trump Singled Out These 130 Colleges as Possible Targets for Investigation. Is Yours on the List?

by Sarah Brown, Chronicle of Higher Education

“In a sweeping executive order aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, President Donald J. Trump directed each federal agency to “identify up to nine potential civil rights compliance investigations” of various organizations, including higher-education institutions with endowments over $1 billion.

Trump’s directive was included in a section about ending diversity programs and hiring practices in the private sector. However, the order doesn’t specify that only private colleges would be scrutinized as part of these investigations.

Here are the 35 DIII undergraduate campuses with endowments over $1 billion, as of 2023, that could be targeted under Trump’s order.”

» Possible DIII Targets. MIT, Washington U., Emory, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, NYU, Caltech, Amherst, Williams, Carnegie Mellon, Wellesley, Rochester, Pomona, Swarthmore, Grinnell, Smith, Bowdoin, Tufts, Case Western Reserve, Washington and Lee, Wesleyan CT, Berea, Middlebury, RIT, Hamilton, Berry, Vassar, Brandeis, Claremont McKenna, Oberlin, Carleton, Bryn Mawr, Colby, Mount Holyoke, Denison.

» Complete List

ICE HOCKEY (W)
3. Bears Topple Top-Ranked Panthers

Bowdoin avenged its first NESCAC loss of the season by taking down top-ranked Middlebury, 2-1, on the Panthers’ home ice on Saturday.

The 10th ranked Polar Bears, who dropped a 2-0 decision to Middlebury on Friday, improved to 13-2 overall, while their hosts slid to 13-2-1. Emma Merrill was the hero, scoring a power-play goal early in the third period, while Sarah Peterson turned away 26 shots.

» Go Deeper

NEWS YOU CAN USE
4. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

🏃‍♀️ Track and Field (W). UW-La Crosse junior Lauren Jarrett set a DIII record in the 60-meter dash at the Pat Healy Classic, hitting the tape in 7.37. That bested the old standard of 7.40 set by UMass-Boston’s Wadeline Jonathas in 2018.

🏃‍♂️ Track and Field (M). Bethel’s Landen Liu became the second-fastest DIII athlete in the indoor 60 meters, recording a time of 6.67 on Saturday. He beat a field that included Olympian and world champion Brandon Carnes and a DI All-American. Only UW-La Crosse’s Sam Blaskowski has registered faster times than Liu.

TRANSACTIONS
5. Comings and Goings

CARTHAGE - Chelsea Davis named head women’s soccer coach
CEDAR CREST - Dallas Horning named assistant athletic director for facilities and operations
MARIETTA - Skyler Davis named assistant softball coach
MOUNT SAINT VINCENT - Max Watson named head men’s soccer coach
PENN STATE HARRISBURG - Angela Burkett transitions to assistant director of athletics. Alexandra Kon named interim head women’s volleyball coach
ROGER WILLIAMS - Ioannis Miaoulis is taking a temporary medical leave of absence. Heather Boujoulian named acting president

1 THING
6. Plays of the Weekend

Other Top Plays

1. A Block and a Levitating Jam

2. A Poster Slam

3. Stick Save and a Beauty

4. Buzzer Beater 1

5. Buzzer Beater 2

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