June 3, 2003

CARLSBAD, Calif. - The MWC Board of Directors concluded its annual meeting by identifying Division I-A postseason football access as its top priority for the upcoming academic year. This will include exploration and detailed analysis of several options.

"Division I-A football is the only sport within the NCAA structure in which student-athletes do not have equal access to championship opportunities," said University of Utah president and Board chair Dr. J. Bernard Machen. "We are searching for ways in which to improve the current system to make it equitable for all of intercollegiate athletics."

The Board also unanimously voted today to lift the conference's moratorium on expansion. The MWC will begin exploring expansion options to determine how additional members could strengthen the Conference. A subcommittee of the Board of Directors will develop parameters by which potential members will be evaluated. That process will begin immediately, with membership options to be evaluated over the next 12 months.

The Board did not change the existing policy prohibiting affiliate members, but will continue to discuss the issue.

In other actions, the MWC Board of Directors Executive Committee was confirmed for 2003-04, including Chair Dr. J. Bernard Machen, University of Utah; Dr. Cecil Samuelson, Brigham Young University; Dr. Stephen Weber, San Diego State University; and Dr. Carol Harter, UNLV. Dr. Philip Dubois, University of Wyoming, will be nominated as the MWC's next representative to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.