About the CSP

The College Sports Project (CSP) is an initiative of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. CSP represents more than 80 colleges and universities in the NCAA's Division III who are committed to strengthening the bonds between intercollegiate athletics and educational values.

Two fundamental and interconnected objectives serve as cornerstones of the College Sports Project: first, athletes are primarily students—their academic outcomes and engagement with a wide variety of campus activities should be representative of their peers—and second, students who participate on intercollegiate athletic teams should do so in an environment that is integrated with and complementary to the educational values of the institution. There is strong consensus among participating colleges and universities that a well-conceived athletic program can offer tremendous benefits. In addition, these like-minded institutions have pledged an intentional commitment to the core values of “representativeness” and integration in hopes of supporting a college sports model that is first and foremost intended to contribute to the overall education of students.

Athletics and the Academy

Intercollegiate sports plays an integral role on college campuses throughout the nation. A A well-conceived athletic program is closely linked with educational values, offering students an opportunity to learn meaningful lessons that can be drawn on throughout college years and in later life. But, just as an apparent lack of appropriate balance and direction permeates youth and some Division I programs, Division III institutions are not immune to forces that threaten the balance between athletics and educational values.

Through conversations with presidents, athletic directors, coaches, faculty, students, and representatives from the NCAA, the College Sports Project (CSP) has learned a great deal about the various challenges facing colleges and universities that compete in Division III. There is agreement and a shared commitment among these constituencies and the more than 130 CSP institutional participants that the time is right for a group of like- minded schools to take a “holistic” approach that might maintain and even strengthen the educational utility of Division III athletics.

At the core of this holistic approach are two primary initiatives, “representativeness” and integration.

The integration effort might best be defined as a focused and intentional effort to encourage the academic, athletic, and student life dimensions of colleges and universities to work intentionally and collaboratively in attempting to align athletic programs with educational missions. CSP colleges and universities will participate in integration institutes, may host consultative visit teams, and are committed to addressing the goal of integration with renewed focus.

The integration initiative represents a collaborative effort on behalf of faculty members, coaches, students, and academic and athletic administrators to restore athletics to a valued and complementary role within an institution's academic and co-curricular life.  The process of achieving integration represents a fundamental cultural shift that encompasses an institution's definition of athletic success, the "scorecard" used to hire and evaluate coaches and the recognition among academic faculty and coaches of their shared roles as mentors and teachers.

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