After about a year's worth of evaluation and examination of NCAA rules compliance within the Ohio athletics program, an Ohio University self-study committee released its findings Friday.

It has found Ohio is in full compliance with the certification process of the NCAA and the NCAA's guidelines and standards regarding the required four areas within athletics programs: governance and commitment to rules compliance, academic integrity, fiscal integrity and commitment to equity.

The self-study is in preparation for an on-site visit NCAA representatives will make during the first week of April to determine if Ohio is indeed in full compliance.

"It's important to note the NCAA gave us a set of guidelines," said William Smith, executive assistant to the president for institutional equity and chairperson of the self-study committee. "(The NCAA) said, 'Look Ohio University, this is what we want you to look at for us. This is a self-study. These are the self-study items, these are the guidelines and this is what we want you to report on'."

The four areas of the self-study each were assigned their own subcommittee for examination. The subcommittees found no problems and full compliance by Ohio in their assigned areas.

"We also, I think, established that there's an NCAA bar, which is the bar we're trying to determine are we in compliance with, and then there's an Ohio University bar that, in many cases, is different and perhaps higher than the NCAA bar," Smith said.

"And the recommendations are, by and large, how do we stay true to the Ohio University bar, not how do we meet the NCAA bar, because the NCAA bar, as a general rule, we meet that. We are not an athletic program out of control."

The governance and commitment to rules compliance section studied aspects such as following the program mission statement and institutional control.

One of the only suggestions the subcommittee made was for the athletics program's mission statement to be listed in the university catalog.

The academic integrity committee looked for, among other things, anomalies in the athletics program's admission process. Sue DeWine, director of interpersonal communication, was chairperson of that subcommittee.

"I, as an academic, was pleased with what I found, which was there did not appear to be any particular exceptional trend among student-athletes that would lead you to believe that they are given any more special privileges than the regular student body," DeWine said. "Generally, the committee found that the academic integrity of the program is strong. We didn't find any anomalies."

The fiscal integrity subcommittee dealt with things such as finding if there is money flowing into the program outside of the president's control or the chain of command of the university.

Richard Siemer, vice president for finance and treasurer, headed the subcommittee and said the primary way the program is funded is through the university's general fund and student fees. That allows fiscal integrity to stay consistent with the university's principles and purposes.

Finally there was commitment to equity with respect primarily to gender and ethnicity.

"Overall, in terms of gender equity, with most universities and colleges across the country, (Ohio is) working towards that," said Michele Smith, director of the Upward Bound program, who was a member of the equity subcommittee. "They're working towards including and adding opportunities for women so that we can come up to standards. We are working towards that and we have made significant strides as opposed to other programs."

Continuing to make strides is what Smith said the self-study and report is all about.

"The report was sent to the NCAA a little over a month ago," he said.

"We are continuing to modify, update and we're excepting comments on the report and hopefully it will be a living document instead of a document to gather dust on the shelf."