The Faculty Senate heard a preliminary report on Stanford’s mandatory ten-year NCAA accreditation process at its meeting Thursday afternoon.

“Athletic certification is simply a means devised by the NCAA to preserve the integrity of college-level athletics,” said LaDoris Cordell, special counsel to President John Hennessy for campus relations.

At the core of the certification process — created by the NCAA in 1993 — is a self-study, Cordell explained. The self-study involves collecting feedback from coaches and community members as well as a survey of Stanford’s more than 700 student athletes themselves. 81 percent of varsity athletes responded, Cordell said.

Psychology Prof. Lee Scott, a member of the accreditation committee, presented the survey’s findings.

“The overall story is one of generally very high levels of satisfaction,” he said, summarizing athlete responses to 22 questions about athletic support, advising and race and gender equality of treatment in athletic programs.

Student satisfaction was lowest in response to a question regarding opportunities to participate in “programs and courses that interest me (e.g. overseas studies).”

Lee called the dip, which became more pronounced by class year at Stanford, “mildly disturbing.” He attributed it to realization among athletes of “foregone opportunities” — that conducting intensive research or studying abroad was difficult while participating in a varsity sport.

Professors called for the creation of more support programs for athletes.

“I’m realistic. I understand that our student athletes have basically a 40 hour a week job,” said Law Prof. Hank Greely, who discussed scheduling more freshman and sophomore seminars so they do not conflict with common practice times.

“I suspect that I myself and some of my colleagues don’t understand the challenges facing Stanford athletes,” said Music Prof. Mark Applebaum, who noted the need for a resource that would educate faculty about the issue.

Cordell expressed confidence that Stanford would be reaccredited by the NCAA in spring of 2009, when the current ten-year cycle comes to an end, but he told faculty that the process represents an opportunity for Stanford to identify areas for improvement in its athletics programs.

“Will Stanford be certified? Yes, we will,” she said. “We view the survey as an opportunity to have an open and honest discussion of athletics at Stanford.”

The Faculty Senate also approved graduate degree “nominating authority” for the new interdisciplinary department of Environmental Earth System Science in the School of Earth Sciences by a unanimous voice vote, permitting the department to grant advanced degrees.