On Oct. 6, the task force that was created for the potential Division I invite had their first meeting to discuss the transition from Division I to Division II. They conducted their second meeting on this morning to discuss their timeline, more questions that may have arisen since the last meeting and what ideas could potentially give more insight to the transition.

One of the items discussed was sports requirements to become a Division I school.

“The sports number as required by Division I is 14,” Justin Boyd, Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, said. “The options are seven men and seven women sports, or six men and eight women sports to add up to 14.”

Although Boyd stated that we currently have the 14 sports needed, he did mention that Athletic Director, Lonn Reisman, and his staff have been looking into adding a new sport.

“We have, and are currently looking at, adding beach volleyball because we have the facilities,” Boyd said. “We have a coach. It is a small team.”

Boyd mentioned that there was a chance that the facilities that we have could potentially go away and building a beach volleyball facility would not be cheap, but it would be less of a monetary impact than other sports.

One of the big things the task force is concerned about is transparency.

The task force also discussed transparency with faculty and students.

“The more transparent we can be, the better,” Lori Beaty, Assistant Vice President and Controller, said.

The Faculty Senate came up with a few ideas that the task force wants to implement to insure a strong level of transparency.

Dr. Keldon Bauer, Accounting, Finance and Economics Department Head and Assistant Professor, said, “We have been very thoughtful in trying to get feedback from everyone.”

One idea the Faculty Senate thought of was having multiple forums. The task force thought a forum where they would bring in external input from other schools, specifically the schools’ athletic director, controller and Faculty Senate chair, who recently took the jump from Division II to Division I would be the most beneficial.

The next idea given was to create a FAQ about the transition to Division I. The team thought this was a great idea.

“If we could just put a FAQ on a website and just list all the questions we already though of and then as we come along and answer them, that way we will be able to squash any rumors,” Dr. Keith Emmert, Mathematics Associate Professor and Faculty Senate President, said. “I am sick of all the rumors.”

Then came the discussion on where to put these FAQ.

“Maybe we just need our own web page and also make a Google form where people can submit questions,” Beaty said.

After future discussion about the website and a Google form took place, the task force decided that this was the best option on being transparent with everyone throughout Tarleton State University.

To conclude the meeting, they talked about their timeline for the semester since they are under a time crunch. The task force decided to meet almost every week until the week of Dec. 4, to ensure they could get the necessary information to make a decision.

The task force also determined that they are going to make a presentation at the next University Budget committee on Nov. 6 and the Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 13. The task force also plans on scheduling meetings with the Student Government Association and Staff Council around mid-November.