Athletics Panel Locks Out Public

A committee charged with making recommendations to North Idaho College on the future of varsity athletics met in secret Tuesday.

The meeting came in the wake of taxpayer concerns about the amount NIC spends on sports.

Committee members asked visitors to leave after hearing a presentation from men’s basketball coach Rolly Williams.

The group’s first meeting was held a week ago and was open to the public.

Williams urged the committee to recommend expanding the athletics program.

“I’m the kind of person who likes to climb mountains,” Williams said. “You can come join me in the heights. Let’s not wallow in the valley.”

The decision to form the 24-person committee came at an August NIC budget meeting. At that meeting, the director of Jobs Plus, a private business recruiter, suggested that less money should go toward athletics and more toward vocational education.

NIC trustees also questioned a 64 percent increase in the amount of tuition and fee waivers to athletes.

Athletic Director Jim Headley said the increase was to correct past bookkeeping problems. Regardless, the increase caught the attention of the trustees.

Tuesday’s meeting was closed to allow some committee members to feel more comfortable speaking freely, committee chairman Bill Nixon said. “This is not a public proceeding.”“This is a community group and this should be a community event,” she said afterward. None of the contentious issues were discussed in depth, she said.

Among the issues are differences in tuition and fee waivers for athletes and non-athletes.

While less than 10 percent of NIC students participate in sports, athletes get 84 percent of the $384,814 set aside in tuition and fee waivers.

On the committee’s agenda for a future meeting is gender equity.

Men have more opportunities to participate in sports than women, although more women attend NIC than men. Men also get more sports scholarships than women.

Williams said he would like to see a women’s fast-pitch softball team added to the college. He also pointed out that no students, neither athletes nor non-athletes, had tuition and fee waivers until he started advocating them more than 20 years ago.

Also at future meetings, the committee will mull travel expenses, and the practice of recruiting out-of-state athletes.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NEXT The committee plans to discuss gender equity in scholarships and sports offered.