The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Recognizes Felician College as a “Champion of Character Institution”

Lodi and Rutherford, NJ--The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) recently named Felician College as a “Champion of Character Institution” for the character-building aspects Felician’s athletes exhibited in the last year.  As one of 114 institutions honored with this title, Felician College’s athletic program earned the recognition for exemplifying the five core character values that define the year-old NAIA program:  respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership and sportsmanship.  In order to be recognized, an institution needed to have taken action steps in all five core character value areas and needed to have self-reported its accomplished goals.  There were 224 institutions throughout the NAIA involved in this non-mandatory program.

Felician College athletes participated in a number of leadership activities during this past year which helped to qualify them for this honor.  Some of their activities included volunteer work with the “Help Your Hungry Neighbors” Food Drive in October 2001, the Community Food Bank of Hillside, NJ, in Spring 2001, and the Felician College “Imagine A Celebration of Life” Holiday Benefit Variety Show in December 2001 to benefit local children affected by the World Trade Center attacks.

“The first year of the Champions of Character Initiative has brought an increased awareness to character issues in sport on our member campuses.  Though the perfect environment many never happen, we believe the NAIA as a whole and especially these 114 institutions have taken a stand to create that positive environment where competition and character go hand in hand,” said NAIA Director of Development Rob Miller.

Through Champions of Character, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every NAIA student-athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five tenets: respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership and sportsmanship. While the NAIA and its 332 member institutions have utilized sport as a character development tool on an informal basis, this program seeks to educate and create awareness of the positive character-building traits afforded by sports and return integrity to competition.

“The institutions recognized as Champions of Character Institutions should be commended for the actions they are taking on their respective campuses.  As the NAIA expands the program to local communities where NAIA institutions are located, we will see a positive difference in the development of our children as they play sports,” added NAIA President and CEO Steve Baker.