Meeting June 24-27 in Monterey, California, the committee issued a statement that strongly encourages spectators not to use tobacco products near student-athletes. The statement also indicates that spectators should remove themselves from the playing area if they are using tobacco products.

In addition to the tobacco issue, the committee also reviewed championships selection criteria and clarified the scoring average and strength-of-schedule criteria. The committee issued a reminder to coaches that selections are made based on the complete evaluation of all criteria. If the rankings cannot be determined once all the criteria are evaluated, then the selection criteria will be prioritized in the following order: head-to-head competition within the region; win/loss record both in the region and overall; comparison with common opponents; scoring average (adjusting scoring average and team and individual stroke average and score vs. par); strength of schedule (quality of the field, number of teams in tournaments and the number of rounds in tournaments); spring results compared to fall results; and eligibility and availability of student-athletes.

• The committee also discussed options for bracket expansion. It expects to forward a recommendation to the Division III Championships Committee after the August chairs' meeting at which selection principles and automatic qualification will be discussed.

• In other action, the committee discussed implementation of the weather guidelines to include professionally trained personnel on site during the championship. Currently a weather detection system is on site; however, there is a lack of trained professionals on site to assist in analyzing the weather data.

• The group also reviewed plans for the 2002 championship at Mount Holyoke.

• Finally, the committee acknowledged the contributions of longtime committee member and chair Michelle Morgan of Amherst College and recommended that Marilyn Mauer of Kalamazoo College serve as the new chair. 
  
  [Source:  NCAA.]