BALTIMORE (AP) – John Hopkins’ storied lacrosse program faces its toughest opponent yet in a NCAA proposal that would eliminate scholarships to its two Division I teams.

The university’s athletic department is lobbying against the legislation that will be voted on at an NCAA convention to be held Jan. 9-12 in Nashville, Tenn.

If it passes, Johns Hopkins would lose a waiver that’s allowed it to give athletic scholarships, which Division III schools normally don’t offer, to the Division I lacrosse athletes. The change would go into effect in the fall of 2008.

It’s part of a larger Division III reform package, with legislation that would also eliminate redshirting and limit the lengths of seasons.

Leaders at Hopkins and the seven other schools that have teams in two divisions are calling their counterparts at the other 418 Division III schools, asking them to vote against the proposal.

“If I were out in Kansas or Wisconsin, where lacrosse is not a big sport, I probably wouldn’t understand Johns Hopkins and lacrosse,” Johns Hopkins President William Brody said. “It’s the one thing that binds our alumni.”

Most school representatives contacted say they will vote against the legislation, Hopkins Athletic Director Tom Calder said. Each school president who is present can cast a vote on the waiver question.

“In many cases, they understand our situation,” Calder said. “They’re sympathetic to what we’ve been doing with our sports.”

The Hopkins’ men’s lacrosse team has won seven NCAA titles, falling short of eight in May with a 9-7 loss to Virginia. The Blue Jays’ record is 820-261-15 in 114 seasons. The women’s team, entering Division I in 1999, finished 11-5 last season. All other Hopkins teams play at the Division III level.

“When I think about Johns Hopkins, I think about medicine and lacrosse,” said Steve Ulrich, executive secretary of the Centennial Conference, of which Hopkins is a member.

The 11-member league is backing Johns Hopkins and supports the school’s contention that it doesn’t have a competitive or financial advantage over other schools by having its lacrosse players compete at the Division I level with scholarships.

Representatives from the conference schools met last week to craft ways to help Johns Hopkins, including having two presidents of member schools speak during the debate on the issue at the convention.

John McCardell, chairman of the Division III Presidents Council and president of Middlebury College in Vermont, said he’s been the recipient of hate mail over the proposed change.

He said it was drafted after the majority of Division III presidents surveyed this spring said they opposed the continuation of multidivisional classification with scholarships.

Other schools and sports affected by the proposal are: men’s and women’s ice hockey at Clarkson; men’s soccer and women’s water polo at Hartwick; the men’s soccer team at Oneonta; RPI men’s ice hockey; the men’s volleyball team at Rutgers-Newark, and both ice hockey teams at St. Lawrence.

Athletic department officials at the eight schools have teleconferences each week and the university presidents meet in a conference call about every two weeks to report progress in combating the legislation.

The presidents have proposed a convention vote on an amendment that would allow them to “maintain programs that are historically significant,” according to a “Save the Waiver” brochure sent to Division III colleagues.

However, Johns Hopkins is also developing a contingency plan in case the waiver is killed. The school is conducting a study on moving all sports to Division I, a complex and expensive undertaking.

Hopkins would not consider moving the Blue Jays’ lacrosse programs to Division III, but it could keep those teams at the Division I level without scholarships, Calder said.

Men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala wouldn’t speculate on what Johns Hopkins would do if the waiver is eliminated. But he said the school “has every intention to support its lacrosse teams at the highest level.”