By Kenny Berkowitz

Kenny Berkowitz is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. He can be reached at: kb@MomentumMedia.com.

When Garnett Purnell became Athletic Director at Wittenberg University six years ago, he had many thoughts on what needed changing. One idea was an official department-wide alcohol policy. Some coaches did not allow their players to drink alcohol in-season, while others only prohibited it 48 hours before a contest.

Purnell knew exactly what he believed the uniform rule should be. But before he established a new policy, he consulted with his student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC).

"The last thing I wanted to do was come in saying, 'This is going to be our policy,'" says Purnell. "If the new rules were going to have teeth, and if everyone was going to follow them, I had to have student-athlete buy-in from the very beginning."

Purnell drafted the original proposal, but Wittenberg's SAAC took a key role in writing the final policy. As part of the process, Purnell had to compromise to retain the support of student-athletes. Looking back, he's glad he did.

Not only does the policy still stand, but it launched Wittenberg's SAAC into a more active and fulfilling role on campus. Since collaborating on the alcohol policy, the committee has had a major impact on a new coaches' evaluation form and is currently creating a confidential online survey for student-athletes to evaluate the department. It is providing feedback to administrators, adding a student voice to policy-making, and empowering its leaders for their lives and careers after college.

By NCAA rule, every member institution must have a student-athlete advisory committee that helps "enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity, protecting student-athlete welfare, and fostering a positive student-athlete image." But how do you develop your SAAC into an effective and meaningful group? As Purnell found, the first step is to empower your student-athletes. Other keys are attracting participants, knowing the administrator's role, and working well with SAAC leaders.

OFFERING OWNERSHIP
At California State University-Chico, Assistant Director of Athletics Mitch Cox arrived in 2002 to find a SAAC that met once a year. An athletic administrator would address the group to explain its responsibilities. There was some discussion of upcoming legislation. Then the meeting would be adjourned and the group wouldn't come together until the following year.

One of Cox's first tasks was to establish the SAAC as an active, ongoing advisory group. He began by talking to members about a realistic time commitment and setting ground rules that took into account their busy schedules.

First, the group would meet once a month, every month, but the meetings would last no longer than one hour. Second, the SAAC would take total charge of an ongoing service project: clearing debris once a year from the creek that serves as the college's main landmark. Third, the leadership, ideas, and initiatives would come from the group itself--not from the athletic administration.

Everything else was up to the student-athletes to decide for themselves. "Our primary role is to serve as mentors for our student-athlete leadership," says Cox. "We're the ones who provide a general plan, help make the SAAC run, and keep the group sailing on a straight course. But we're not the captains--that role needs to be filled by students."

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is also working hard on empowering its SAAC. To start, second-year Athletic Director China Jude asked the group to determine its own mission and organizational structure.

In response, Cheyney's SAAC set up a framework that includes at least one representative from each team who is responsible for relaying information to their teammates. The group also wrote a mission statement that emphasizes its intention to affect department policy.

"First and foremost, the SAAC serves as a liaison to the athletic administration at Cheyney, ensuring student-athletes have a voice in all issues impacting their daily welfare," states the page-long statement, which also includes a list of goals for the current year. "The student-athlete advisory committee will advise the academic/athletic staff in regards to services offered and quality of those services."

Jude is now involving Cheyney's SAAC in many critical areas. "If we're going to make a decision that affects our student-athletes, we don't proceed until we have their input," she says. "For example, letterman jackets are a huge thing on our campus, and in the past, coaches decided who would and wouldn't get one--end of discussion. When we decided to change that policy, we asked the SAAC to take ownership of the process. I told them, 'Students are the ones who are going to wear these jackets, so it doesn't make sense for coaches and administrators to make the choices. This decision is really important, and it belongs to you.'"

Along with developing a mission statement and reviewing criteria for letterman jackets, the newly remodeled SAAC has spent its first year helping to interview candidates for coaching positions and taking charge of organizing midnight madness celebrations for basketball. It is also finalizing its own SAAC constitution, bylaws, brochure, and Web site.

All that work has begun to make an impact beyond athletics--especially the midnight madness events, which required the SAAC to collaborate closely with student government. "Our SAAC representatives have become great spokespeople for the department," says Jude. "When the university increased student activity fees this year, there were questions from the general student population about how athletics wound up receiving part of that money. Our SAAC representatives appeared in front of student government to explain why the increase was needed. The student government listened to them, and now everyone is on the same page."

At Wittenberg, Purnell has also seen great results from allowing his SAAC to help make important decisions. "By consulting with the SAAC on a new policy, your student-athletes gain a sense of ownership," he says. "They know their opinion matters, and they can go back to their constituents and say, 'This isn't just coming from the administration. We helped formulate this policy, and we're going to support it.'

"Listening to their ideas also helps us formulate rules and procedures that are stronger than the ones we would have thought up by ourselves," Purcell continues. "If we're doing our job, we should be truly empowering our student leaders to take part in the decision-making process."

SIGNING 'EM UP
Ensuring your SAAC has meaning is key to another facet of developing the group: attracting participants. Student-athletes already have very busy schedules to deal with, so it can take some extra effort to ensure you get them excited to join the SAAC.

At the University of Southern Mississippi, Athletic Director Richard Giannini does this by continually talking to student-athletes about the importance of the group. "Every chance we get, we tell our student-athletes that the SAAC is the best way to communicate back to the administration," he says. "We explain that if an issue is raised through the SAAC, it will quickly filter up to us. We have an ongoing, open dialogue with the SAAC, which is here to be the student-athletes' voice to the administration."

To bolster his argument, Giannini includes some specific examples of initiatives led by Southern Mississippi's SAAC: There was one team that felt it needed more practice gear, and another that wanted to be included in the department's laundry program. In both cases, the issue was raised at a SAAC meeting and was quickly resolved by the administration.

At Stevenson University (formerly Villa Julie College), Compliance Director and Senior Woman Administrator Kathy Railey follows a similar strategy. "We tell all our student-athletes about our SAAC's track record, which proves the group makes things happen," she says. "If student-athletes think they don't have power to make change, they're not going to find the extra time and energy to join the group.

"Student-athletes need to know the president, the dean, and other members of the administration are interested in their opinions," she continues. "If they feel empowered, they're going to want to use that power."

To demonstrate her point to Stevenson's student-athletes, Railey reels off a list of SAAC accomplishments. In the last five years, the group has developed a contract between student-athletes and professors to clarify when athletes are excused for competition. It established early course registration for student-athletes, which gives them priority in signing up for classes. It created the college's first "Breakfast of Champions" to honor academic excellence among student-athletes. And it is currently working to shift the academic calendar to free senior student-athletes to attend internships in either the fall or spring semester.

Small things can also make joining the group attractive. At Duke University, administrators make sure filling student-athletes' stomachs is always on the agenda.

"Food is really important," says Leslie Barnes, Director of Student-Athlete Development at Duke. "A lot of students are coming directly from practices, and with SAAC meetings scheduled to start at 7 p.m., offering snacks gives them one less thing to worry about. I make the menu diverse, so we'll have Mexican food at one meeting, sandwiches at the next, and pizza at the one after that."

A CAREFUL BALANCE
If the SAAC is supposed to come up with its own ideas and lead itself, then what is the athletic administrator's role? Jude suggests it is a careful balance of sitting back while also jumping in when needed. She feels it's important that she attends every SAAC executive board and general meeting, but she rarely speaks at length.

Her role at the monthly SAAC meetings is primarily to answer questions about the background and historical context of the issues being raised. Apart from that, she places full responsibility for running the meeting on the SAAC executive board and leaves the discussion to the students.

"An athletic director's job is to provide the SAAC the information it needs to make an informed decision," says Jude. "If something happened in the past, or if there's something coming down the pipeline that might affect a decision the group is making, SAAC members need to know about it."

At Duke, Barnes does the same. "Our SAAC meetings are very, very student-driven, so I primarily sit back and make myself available to answer questions as they come up," she says. "The co-chairs are ultimately responsible for creating an agenda, presenting it to the group, and facilitating the meeting from start to finish."

MENTORING LEADERS
At the same time, your SAAC leaders will require some direction on how to guide the group and keep it strong. They need to learn about creating agendas, directing discussions, listening to opposing opinions, running an orderly meeting, and formulating goals.

At Duke, Barnes meets with her SAAC leadership in a small group session once a month. She says one of the most important steps administrators can take is to help these student-athletes ready themselves for their upcoming general meeting.

"Before the meetings, I meet with our co-chairs about the agenda," says Barnes. "That way, I know we're all on the same page, and I have a sense of how the general meeting will unfold. I get to hear their perspective on everything that's happening in the department, and if there's an item I need to add from an administrative perspective, there is time for us to discuss it."

As part of creating the agenda, Barnes asks the co-chairs to discuss the issues with one another, listen well, and anticipate responses that may arise at the general meeting. "At the meeting, group discussion needs to start with the co-chairs," says Barnes. "Rather than just giving information, I encourage co-chairs to ask for feedback and formulate open-ended questions that will spark discussion.

"This millennial generation wants to be asked their opinion, but they also like to have some structure first," she continues. "So it's important for the co-chairs to be as specific as possible in formulating their questions. And because this generation may have a hard time answering at first, the co-chairs need to become comfortable with silence."

Railey works with student leaders to help them think about other points of view. "We break down each issue to demonstrate all the different sides of an argument," she says. "At agenda-setting meetings and in my own informal discussions with SAAC leaders, I play devil's advocate all the time because it helps them understand where the faculty and administrators are coming from--as well as other students. It shows them another perspective and helps them to refine their argument before meeting with the rest of the group."

She also provides tips on how to make a meeting run smoothly. "A lack of organization can make meetings feel much longer than they really are," says Railey. "So we talk about why an agenda is important and why all participants should have a copy of the agenda. Everyone at the meeting needs to know the meeting is progressing and when it's going to end."

Administrators should also help SAAC leaders develop realistic goals. "We want our SAAC leaders to be unafraid to ask for the things they need," says Railey. "And when they ask, our job is to help them work toward what is achievable. But it doesn't help if we promise to fight a crusade for them. So we try to teach them how to rationally approach what can and cannot be done, and we focus them on making simple changes that will benefit everyone."

Sometimes, administrators also need to help SAAC leaders find their voice. "A few years ago, our SAAC president was a volleyball player who was sweet as pie, but personally very shy," says Cox. "She needed the confidence to lead, both on the court and in public. So I said, 'You know what? You're going to become a leader.' At the beginning, it was sink or swim. She knew she had to take over the group, and it was important she was aware I had confidence she could do it.

"Building leadership is like coaching," he continues. "You step in when you need to, but otherwise you let your athletes play. That's how I approached this situation. After a meeting, I would ask, 'What went well? What didn't go well? How would you handle that situation next time?' Given the opportunity, she started coming up with some excellent ideas, understanding how to get people involved, and taking the group where she wanted it to go. She became a new person."

THE LONG VIEW
Empowering your SAAC does take time. And the more viewpoints you include in department decisions, the longer it will take to establish new policies. But in the long run, Purnell is convinced the process is worth the energy, since it gives both students and administrators a broader perspective.

"For the student-athletes, having that kind of ownership in the decision-making process gives them a new appreciation of how a department is run," says Purnell. "For administrators, working with SAAC members allows us to see the world through their eyes. A lot of times in formulating policies and procedures for our student-athletes, we tend to forget what it's like to be their age. By establishing a dialogue, each side gets to see where the other is coming from."

"It's the best tool we have to communicate with student-athletes, give them ownership of their program, provide a forum to voice their opinions, and demonstrate that we're listening to their concerns," adds Giannini.

Ultimately, says Barnes, the number-one reason to empower student-athletes is to fulfill your department's and institution's educational mission. "As administrators, we're here to educate our student-athletes and help them develop as people," she says. "If we're not empowering them to be leaders, we're not doing our job."