Here is today's official announcement about CAA Championships scheduled to be held in North Carolina in 2017.



COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION REACTS TO NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE BILL-2



RICHMOND, Va. (September 23, 2016) – The Colonial Athletic Association Council of Presidents and Athletic Directors of its full member institutions met via conference call on September 21, 2016 to discuss and review the Conference’s position on CAA Championships that are scheduled to be held in the state of North Carolina in 2016-17.



On behalf of its full member institutions, the Conference will send a letter to the Governor of North Carolina expressing its strong opposition to the discriminatory principles of the law adopted by HB-2 and calling for its immediate repeal.



To show support for the strong diversity and inclusion values held by all of its full members, the Conference voted to institute a plan to move the 2017 CAA Women’s Golf Championship, scheduled for April 14-16, 2017 at St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C., unless the law adopted by HB-2 is repealed or voided before January 10, 2017.



Additionally, the Conference reaffirmed its decision to allow the 2016 CAA Volleyball Championship to be held on the campus of UNCW from November 18-20. In accordance with CAA championship hosting policies, the Seahawks earned the right to host the championship based on winning the conference title a year ago. It was also agreed, pursuant to the CAA championship hosting policies for the 2016 CAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships, that Elon University or UNCW would be allowed to host any rounds of the championships on their respective campuses should their teams earn that right based on their regular-season finish. The leadership of the Conference noted that this action was in line with recent decisions that had been made by the NCAA and other Division I Conferences.



Finally, at this time, the Conference decided to take no formal action as it relates to other on-campus championships scheduled in the spring of 2017. Elon University is scheduled to host the CAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships from April 20-23 and UNCW is slated to host the CAA Baseball Championship from May 24-27. The Conference will continue to monitor the situation in regards to the law adopted by HB-2 and will revisit its position on the women’s golf championship and all scheduled on- campus North Carolina based championships during a January 10, 2017 meeting of the CAA Council of Presidents.



Following the conference call, CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio expressed his gratitude for the positions taken by the Conference: “Today we were able to work collaboratively as a membership to discuss and review a very complex and complicated situation, because diversity and inclusion are such important principles at all ten of our full member institutions. Our decisions express the desire of our Conference to stand up against discriminatory practices, while also making sure that the student-athletes of the CAA, as well as all people that take part in our championships, are provided with a tremendous experience in a fair and non-discriminatory environment. Going forward we will continue to closely monitor all aspects of this situation and make additional future decisions with the best interests of our student-athletes, as well as with the commitment of our institutions to diversity and inclusion, in mind.”