🛝 Sliding Into The Weekend.

🗞 What You Need to Know. DIII Presidents Council Roundup. HCAC, OAC Form Strategic Alliance. Pace of College Closings Picks Up. Kings of the Midwest. Pumpkin-Cheesecake Ice Cream Returns.

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. Cha Cha Slide. DJ Casper

“During this week’s virtual meeting, the Division III Presidents Council reviewed the 36 options developed by the Division III Analysis Working Group to mitigate the six core tensions identified by Division III delegates at the 2026 NCAA Convention.

To develop the options ranging from short-term to long-term implementation, the working group used feedback from over 155 individual stakeholders who were interviewed and from a Division III-specific survey. The council also approved the working group’s recommendation to forward some options to existing governance committees or the membership or to be moved to a “parking lot” for future discussion.

The working group will continue to research and develop 10 options that are focused on creating financial resources (for example, peer benchmarking), broad playing season reviews and governance strategic planning.”

» Budget. “The Presidents Council approved the fiscal year 2027 and 2028 budgets, as well as the fiscal year 2027 strategic plan. The new budget will go into effect Sept. 1.”

» Elections. “The council elected a new chair and vice chair. Suzanne Davis, president of Greenville, will be the chair, while Alberto Cardelle, president of SUNY Oneonta, will be the vice chair. Their terms will begin after the 2027 NCAA Convention.”

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“The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Ohio Athletic Conference have entered into a formal strategic alliance designed to preserve competitive opportunities, support sustainable sport sponsorship and provide greater stability for NCAA Division III student-athletes and member institutions.

Approved by the Councils of Presidents of both conferences, the agreement establishes a framework through which the HCAC and OAC can collaborate on strategic initiatives, scheduling opportunities, affiliate membership arrangements and other areas of mutual interest while each maintains their own independent governance and operational models.”

» State of Play. “A central focus of this partnership is preserving access to NCAA championship opportunities for students of both conferences. If a sport in either conference is at risk of falling below the membership threshold required to maintain NCAA automatic qualification, the conferences may work together through scheduling assistance, affiliate membership arrangements or other mutually agreed-upon measures.”

» Worth Noting. “The partnership also includes a mutual commitment that neither conference will solicit a core member of the other without approval through the conferences’ respective governance processes. That provision further reflects the alliance’s emphasis on trust, stability and the continued strength of both organizations.”

“There’s a sudden market in abandoned campuses, an outgrowth of the accelerating rate of colleges closing in the face of falling enrollment, rising debt and other problems.

More than 440 of the nation’s private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities are now at risk, based on enrollment trends, debt and other measures, according to projections by Huron Consulting Group. That’s a quarter of the total.

Among the most endangered: small, rural and religiously affiliated institutions.”

» Driving The News. “A decline in the birthrate that began around the Great Recession means there will be 15 percent fewer 18-year-olds per year through 2039 than there are now. Among that falling number of high school graduates, the proportion going straight to college has also dropped, from a peak of 70 percent to just under 63 percent in 2024.”

“College hockey's powerhouses are usually found in places like Boston, Denver, Minnesota, or the heart of Michigan. But sitting in southern Michigan, one Division III program has quietly built a reputation that stretches far beyond its NCAA classification.

Adrian College has proved what the talent pool is like at the lowest NCAA level, and why they have a chance to be so much more.”

» Of Note. “Over the last two decades, the Bulldogs have transformed into the Midwest's premier small-college hockey destination. National championships and conference titles, and they recruit players from the same leagues and teams as the top programs in Division I. Whether it's NCAA Division III or ACHA competition, the Bulldogs have become synonymous with excellence.”

» Why It Matters. “The Bulldogs' success has also made Adrian the gold standard for hockey throughout the Midwest. Programs don't simply want to beat Adrian; they want to build a similar program to them. The Bulldogs have shown that sustained excellence starts with your staff, where they've hired coaches with Division I experience, and all of that trickles down to the players, who are looking for the same success this next season as they saw in their 2022 National Championship season, when they went 31-1.”

» Conferences. “With the addition of Alfred State, Cobleskill and Delhi raising the number of full-time member institutions to 12, the State University of New York Athletic Conference will split its men's and women's soccer conference into two divisions while increasing the number of playoff teams from six to eight.”

» Football. The Secretaries’ Cup rivalry game between Merchant Marine and Coast Guard will be played at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14. And Division III is well represented among the “Top 27 Rivalries In College Football,” including three in the top 10.

» Courts. “Vassar College agreed to a $5 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by women full professors who alleged they were paid less than their equally qualified male colleagues.”

» Awards. “UW-River Falls Athletic Director Crystal Lanning has been named a 2026 Nike Executive of the Year Award recipient by Women Leaders in Sports.”

» Layoffs. Illinois Tech laid off 160 faculty and staff members just weeks before the fall semester begins. A spokesperson attributed the workforce reductions to an effort to “ensure fiscal stability” and “continue to provide excellent education” for students.”

» Finances. “Roanoke will not accept new major or minor declarations in its health/physical education, physics and French programs. Those programs, and the concentration in German studies, will be discontinued a year from now. The changes come amid the college’s push to eliminate a $7.5 million "structural cash deficit," President Frank Shushok wrote. The current fiscal year is projected to reduce that cash deficit to slightly more than $2 million, marking the lowest operating deficit since his arrival as president in 2022.”

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“Fall has reentered the ice cream pint at Ben & Jerry's.

The ice cream chain's fan-favorite pumpkin cheesecake flavor is back for the season, Ben & Jerry's confirmed to USA TODAY on Aug. 5. Customers looking for their fix will have to act fast, though, as the flavor will only be around temporarily for fall.

Ben & Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake ice cream is only available in the pint form, according to its website. The flavor features pumpkin cheesecake ice cream combined with a graham cracker swirl.”

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