In a vote taken last week, UW-Madison opposed a new NCAA policy that allows schools to offer athletes multi-year scholarships.
The NCAA Board ruled in October schools would be able to grant scholarships for more than one year rather than on the seasonal basis they were previously offered on. Since last week’s vote failed, schools will continue to offer scholarships for multiple years.
Division I schools voted last week against overruling the legislation allowing multi-year scholarships. Of the 62.5 percent needed to revoke the policy, 62.12 percent of the schools voted against it.
UW was the only Big Ten university to vote against multi-year scholarships.
Some institutions said they were concerned scholarship money would be spent on athletes who do not perform as coaches had hoped athletically or academically.
But since the policy passed, UW-Madison director of compliance Katie Smith told the Cap Times individual coaches will determine whether to offer scholarships on a multi-year or seasonal basis.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said the NCAA plans to work with the institutions that opposed the legislation to address their concerns.
“It’s clear that there are significant portions of the membership with legitimate concerns,” Emmert said in an NCAA press release. “As we continue to examine implementation of the rule, we want to work with the membership to address those concerns.”
