NEWMAC Meeting Minutes
November 18, 2008
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Higgins House, Great Hall
Present:
MIT-Julie Soriero, John Benedick, Barb Bolich; WPI-Dana Harmon, Rusty Eggen; Springfield-Cathie Schweitzer,
Craig Poisson, Kelly Hart; Babson-Josh MacArthur, Nellie Pineault, Amy Lampe; Mount Holyoke-Laurie Priest,
Lori Hendricks, Pete Olsen; Wheaton-Chad Yowell, John Sutyak, Scott Dietz, George Rodriguez, Rebecca Begley;
USCGA-Ray Cieplik, Andrea Stewart, Donna Koczajowski; Smith-Lynn Oberbillig, Bonnie May, Felicia Prater;
Wellesley - Bridget Belgiovine, Avery Esdaile, Megan Valentine, Gabby Wakeman; Clark-Linda Moulton;
NEWMAC-Katie Hersey, Greg McKeever.
1.
Finance and budget portion of Treasury Report to move to Executive Session
Motion: Approve Agenda
Passed: 10-0
2.
Motion: Approve August Minutes
Passed: 10-0
Note regarding minutes: NEWMAC ordered two tents
3.
Strategic Plan – Bridget reviewed current and upcoming Strategic Planning items.
4.
Treasurer’s Report (Linda Moulton)
a. Distributed November 18, 2008 Treasurer Report; Noted that balance should be noted as of Aug 1
b. Requested to send invoices to Executive Director first for approval.
c. Reviewed dues. All institutions were invoiced 07-08 amount rather than 08-09 amount which
increased dues by $1,000. Institutions agreed to send Linda the $1,000 payment for this budget
cycle (08-09).
5.
Officer’s Reports
a. President (Cathie Schweitzer)
1. Congratulated Fall Champions
2. Executive Committee Decisions
1. Reviewed playability of facility issue
 Facility – Noted that the magnitude of concern related to alternate site field
decisions should be different for regular season and championships
 Noted the importance of collegiality when dealing with these decisions
 Cathie to send out facility tracking document for updates
2. Alternate Field Championship issue for Field Hockey/Women’s Soccer
 EC with collaboration from ADs determined to allow Springfield to host Field
Hockey and Women’s Soccer. Field Hockey was played on the alternate site
BABSON  CLARK  COAST GUARD  MIT  MOUNT HOLYOKE  SMITH  SPRINGFIELD  WELLESLEY  WHEATON  WPI
b.
c.
and women’s soccer was played on the same site after the field hockey
contests. Women’s soccer was played on the primary soccer playing field.
3. Committee Assignments – Cathie will work to fill open Committees. For officiating
committee, it will be comprised of 2 liaisons plus Katie. Interns are welcome to serve on this
committee.
4. Chad brought up the notion of naming interns as co-liaisons for sports. The group did not
object.
SAAC (Rusty Eggen)
1. 32 student-athletes attended the recent SAAC meeting.
2. Janet Judge focused on social network sites and hazing
3. The group reviewed NCAA legislation.
4. The next meeting will be April 5th
5. Questions about Facebook and other social networking sites addressed at the meeting due to
electronic communication legislation
Schedulers
1. Fall (Lori Hendricks)
1. Lori and Katie to meet to develop future fall schedules
2. Scheduling Committee to make a recommendation whether to move weekday
scheduled contests to more Saturdays and essentially stretch out the season
2. Winter (Lynn Oberbillig)
1. Women’s Basketball Schedule
 Motion to approve 2009-2010 women’s basketball schedule as is
 Approved: 9-1-0
 Noted that we did not approve the reciprocal. We will review the schedule at
the end of the 2009-2010 season to determine if adjustments are desired.
2. Motion: Approve 2009-2010 Men’s Basketball Schedule
Approved: 8-0-2
Motion: Approve 2010-2011 reciprocal men’s basketball schedule;
Approved 8-0-2
6.
Executive Director Updates (Katie Hersey)
a. Recognized Fall Hosts for excellent championships
b. Katie updated the group about the recent New England Commissioner Meeting
1. Group discussed officiating – A working group was formed to evaluate officiating costs now
and to investigate alternative options
c. Recognized and thanked Linda Moulton for developing the NEWMAC budget
d. Updated the group about new NEWMAC vendors for championship T-shirts and programs
1. To order additional championship t-shirts, email Katie within one week of championship.
Katie will place order, and institutions will be invoiced from the NEWMAC for the cost of the
new shirts. NEWMAC will send one payment directly to the vendor.
e. Noted effectiveness of reviewing the Strategic Planning items at the beginning of NEWMAC
meetings to enhance overall meeting and tie meeting agenda items to overall conference objectives
7.
Fall Updates (Sport Liaisons)
BABSON  CLARK  COAST GUARD  MIT  MOUNT HOLYOKE  SMITH  SPRINGFIELD  WELLESLEY  WHEATON  WPI
a.
Cross Country (Avery Esdaile for Mindy Mangels)
1. Wellesley is hosting next year and Franklin Park has conflicts
2. Wellesley will investigate Sunday availability at Franklin Park and we will make a motion
and determination at a later NEWMAC meeting.
3. Recommended that liaison investigate the next 6 years and commit to Franklin Park when
appropriate
b. Field Hockey (Barb Bolich)
1. Reviewed field hockey motions
c. Men’s Soccer (Linda Moulton)
1. Charge awards committee to discuss goalkeeping process and whether it should exist for
field hockey and lacrosse
d. Women’s Soccer (Josh MacArthur)
1. Game times not defined when men’s and women’s soccer hosting on same day during
tournament
2. Reviewed motions
e. Women’s Tennis (Bonnie May)
1. First year in new format; worked well at MHC
2. Reviewed motions
f. Volleyball (Chad Yowell)
1. Coaches concerned about limiting substitutions to 12 and plan to draft a letter
g. Other: Discussed a new 3-year awards moratorium—determined no due to open items on various
tables; noted issue that if a sport has an even amount of teams sponsoring, ties won’t be broken, but
odd teams ties will be broken
8.
Winter Updates (Sport Liaisons)
1. Primary discussion item: women’s basketball schedule as noted during scheduling
discussion
9.
Committee Reports
a. Constitution and Bylaws
1. Sought approval of Bylaws modifications
2. Motion: Approve red changes
Passed: 10-0
3. Blue changes reviewed and passed on a per item basis and will be included under a
separate cover as part of these minutes
b. Championships
1. Presented championship guiding principles as presented and worked on following the
special meeting of the NEWMAC AAG.
2. Motion: Approve championship principles as amended; Passed: 9-1
10. NCAA Legislation (Lynn Oberbillig)
a. 2nd year in pilot for drug education program; preliminary report will be released soon; relatively high
rate in Division III; recommend to discuss drug testing as a conference in the future
b. Looking at tiers of the conference grant program; Lynn asked for feedback
BABSON  CLARK  COAST GUARD  MIT  MOUNT HOLYOKE  SMITH  SPRINGFIELD  WELLESLEY  WHEATON  WPI
c.
Reviewed legislation; Cathie to introduce facility proposal; Pete to speak to AED/First Aid/CPR
proposal; Everyone asked to review FAQ, specifically those related to the NEWMAC proposals,
and send feedback to Katie
d. White papers
1. Discussed white papers’ intent within the future of Division III; Lynn encouraged
institutions to review White Papers with Presidents
11. Other Business
a. Men’s lacrosse
1. Reviewed state of future of men’s lacrosse; noted the New England conferences that are not
at 7 playing members
2. Joe Walsh called Craig Poisson, Pilgrim League Commissioner, to discuss conference
alignment with consideration of NCAA AQ bids.
3. Discussed: Is NEWMAC interested in exploring associate members for men’s lacrosse?
1. Feedback received was yes—Josh and Craig charged to review and make initial
recommendations to the larger body
b. Cost Saving Initiatives – discussed during Executive Session; a follow up meeting of the Directors of
Athletics to discuss this issue and others was initially scheduled for December 15 th in Worcester
Respectfully Submitted,
Katie Hersey
NEWMAC Executive Director
BABSON  CLARK  COAST GUARD  MIT  MOUNT HOLYOKE  SMITH  SPRINGFIELD  WELLESLEY  WHEATON  WPI