Mission Statement

The mission of the NCAA Division II SAAC is to enhance the voice of the student-athlete to ensure the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity for all student-athletes; protecting student-athlete welfare; and fostering a positive student-athlete image.

Guiding Principles

Division II SAAC will be guided by the following principles: ethics, integrity, fairness and a respect for diversity and inclusion, which includes, but is not limited to, attention to gender, race, ethnicity and sport.

Division II SAAC’s purpose is meant to reflect the voice of the student-athlete and should adhere to the following guiding principle in all of its processes and decision making:  The well-being of student-athletes is at the center of what SAAC does:

1. Any process must be flexible and timely and include effective communication.
2. Decisions must be fair, reasonable, and consider the potential impact on the student-athlete.

Governing Rule

We, as the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, will ultimately hold one another accountable for all actions, particularly those actions taking place during the SAAC meetings.

Responsibilities of Campus and Conference SAAC Representatives

Campus SAAC: Campus SAAC representatives are responsible for discussing issues affecting student-athletes at the campus level and forwarding this information to the conference SAAC.

Conference SAAC: Conference SAAC representatives are responsible for collecting feedback from their campuses, forming a conference perspective and forwarding that perspective to the national SAAC. Conference SAACs serve as the vital link between the campus and national SAACs. Without their communication to the campus and national levels, the student-athlete voice is lost within the structure.

History of SAAC

The SAAC is a committee consisting of student-athletes assembled to provide insight on the student-athlete experience. The SAAC offers input on rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes' lives on NCAA member institution campuses. There are three SAACs at the national level representing NCAA Divisions I, II and III. NCAA legislation mandates that all member institutions institute a SAAC on their respective campuses. Further, NCAA legislation requires that all member conferences institute a SAAC.

An Association-wide SAAC was adopted at the 1989 NCAA Convention and was formed primarily to review and offer student-athlete input on NCAA activities and proposed legislation that affected student-athlete welfare.

The initial national committee was comprised of student-athletes from all membership divisions for the purpose of ensuring that the student-athlete voice was one that accounted for the myriad of educational and athletics experiences of both female and male student-athletes at all NCAA member institutions. In August 1997, the NCAA federated along divisional lines. The federation caused the SAAC to expand to three SAACs representing NCAA Divisions I, II and III.

The Division II National SAAC is comprised of female and male student-athletes of various backgrounds charged with offering student-athlete input on NCAA activities and proposed legislation affecting the student-athlete experience and student-athlete well-being. To fulfill this charge, Division II National SAAC members serve not only on the committee, but are also engaged in many NCAA opportunities where they may speak on NCAA issues. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, serving on Association-wide committees, serving on division specific committees, speaking and voting on the NCAA Division II Convention floor, and playing significant roles in the NCAA leadership conferences.

The input from the Division II SAAC continues to be sought by constituencies within the Association. Division II SAAC members have the opportunity to speak and vote on the Division II Executive Board and Division II Management Council, in addition to speaking and voting on legislative issues on the Division II Convention floor.