Eligibility - SAIT Soccer - Angolan Students |
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Eligibility Ruling
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2011-12 SeasonSeptember 27, 2011Facts: SAIT advises that 5 visiting international students have earned a spot on the SAIT Men’s Soccer team. The students are enrolled in the Production Ops/Maintenance Technician Program at SAIT. This is a corporate training arrangement between SAIT and Esso/Exxon Mobil to train Angolan residents for work in their home country. SAIT is seeking a ruling on the eligibility of these students to compete during the 2011 season. Before seeking this ruling, SAIT consulted its Registrar who, after reviewing the ACAC’s eligibility requirements, indicated that the students are enrolled in a one credit course and thus do not comply ACAC requirements and declared the students ineligible. SAIT seeks clarification and requests that the students be granted “special” consideration to allow these students to more fully integrate into the regular student population by allowing them to compete for a SAIT team. Ruling: Article I Section 5 Rule 1.1 of the ACAC Operating Code states as follows: 1.1. Academic Load and Status 1.1.1. Full-time Status: The ACAC defines full-time status as being registered in and attending a minimum of three (3) credit courses totalling nine (9) credit hours (or equivalent as determined by the institution’s Registrar) in each semester in which they participate in ACAC competition. (Amended October 2009) Although SAIT has suggested that the students in question are considered full-time students, pursuant to the corporate training agreement, they are only taking a course load that represents one third of what the ACAC constitutes as full-time status. Notwithstanding the principles of inclusiveness outlined in the Operating Code, I am not prepared to deviate from the full-time course requirements in Rule 1.1.1. As a result, these students are ineligible to compete for the SAIT Men’s Soccer team.
Sincerely, Bill Hendsbee |