ACU is one step closer to joining a Division I conference.

Representatives from the Southland Conference visited campus Wednesday to meet with administrators, coaches and student-athletes. ACU has been in talks with the Southland Conference for more than two years about joining the league. The Southland could offer ACU an invitation to join the conference within a few weeks.

Tom Burnett

Tom Burnett, commissioner of the Southland Conference, said the campus visit will help the conference reach a decision soon.

“It looks like we’re coming to a point where we’ll make some decisions very soon on membership,” Burnett said. “People ask me what it means that we’re here, and what it means is we’re very serious about membership possibilities.”

Burnett said it would be a matter of weeks until the conference will decide to offer ACU membership in the Southland. The commissioner’s goal is for the university to be a full conference member in the 2013-14 school year.

ACU was an original member of the Southland Conference in 1963, but has been in Division II since 1973.

Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, said the potential move to Division I would affect both sports and academics.

“One of the big transitions would be changing academic requirements,” Schubert said. “Requirements between Division II and Division I are very different. The criteria for Division I standards are closer to what we’re trying to have from an academic standpoint.”

Schubert said that while a lot of D-I schools are larger than Abilene Christian, many other universities are roughly the same size as ACU or smaller.

The makeup of the Southland Conference has already changed several times recently.

According to a Lufkin Daily News report, the University of Texas at Arlington, University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas State University left the conference earlier this summer. Oral Roberts University was admitted for this school year, to make 10 schools in the league.

Houston Baptist University will join for the 2013-14 academic year. The conference representatives are also considering adding the University of New Orleans and Incarnate Word University. They visited those schools last month.