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Ivy League



 
 
The Ivy League is an athletic conference
Athletic conference

An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the college or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller and smaller Division s, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels....
 comprising eight private institutions of higher education
University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
 in the Northeastern United States
Northeastern United States

The Northeast is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group. The term also has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism
Elitism

Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite—a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes—are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
.

The term became official, especially in sports terminology, after the formation of the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and University in the United States ....
 Division I
Division I

Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
 athletic conference in 1954, when much of the nation polarized around favorite college teams. The use of the phrase is no longer limited to athletics, and now represents an educational philosophy inherent to the nation's oldest schools.

All of the Ivy League's institutions place near the top in the U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is an influential United States newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories....
 college and university rankings
College and university rankings

In higher education, college and university rankings are listings of universities and liberal arts colleges in an order determined by any combination of factors....
 and rank within the top one percent of the world's academic institutions in terms of financial endowment.






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Encyclopedia


The Ivy League is an athletic conference
Athletic conference

An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the college or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller and smaller Division s, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels....
 comprising eight private institutions of higher education
University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
 in the Northeastern United States
Northeastern United States

The Northeast is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group. The term also has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism
Elitism

Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite—a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes—are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
.

The term became official, especially in sports terminology, after the formation of the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and University in the United States ....
 Division I
Division I

Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
 athletic conference in 1954, when much of the nation polarized around favorite college teams. The use of the phrase is no longer limited to athletics, and now represents an educational philosophy inherent to the nation's oldest schools.

All of the Ivy League's institutions place near the top in the U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is an influential United States newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories....
 college and university rankings
College and university rankings

In higher education, college and university rankings are listings of universities and liberal arts colleges in an order determined by any combination of factors....
 and rank within the top one percent of the world's academic institutions in terms of financial endowment. Seven of the eight schools were founded during America's colonial period
Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783....
; the exception is Cornell
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
, which was founded in 1865. Ivy League institutions, therefore, account for seven of the nine Colonial Colleges
Colonial colleges

The Colonial Colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies before the American Revolution . These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature....
 chartered before the American Revolution
American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
. The Ivies are all in the Northeast geographic region of the United States. They are privately owned and controlled, although many of them receive funding in the form of research grants from federal and state governments. Only Cornell has state-supported academic units, termed "statutory" or "contract" colleges
Statutory college

In United States higher education, particular to the state of New York, a statutory college or contract college is a college or school that is a component of an independent, private university that has been designated by the State legislature to receive significant, ongoing public funding from the U.S....
, that are a part of the institution.

Undergraduate enrollments among the Ivy League schools range from about 4,000 to 14,000, making them larger than those of a typical private liberal arts college
Liberal arts college

Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts. The Encyclop?dia Britannica Concise defines "liberal arts" as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational educati...
 and smaller than a typical public state university
State university system

A state university system in the United States is a group of Public university University supported by an individual U.S. state or a similar entity such as the District of Columbia....
. Ivy League university financial endowment
Financial endowment

A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution, usually with the stipulation that it be invested, and the :wikt:principal remain intact in perpetuity or for a defined time period....
s range from Brown's $2.01 billion to Harvard's $28.8 billion, the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world.

Members

InstitutionLocationAthletic NicknameUndergraduate enrollmentMotto
Brown University
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the Capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, and one of the first cities established in the United States....
Bears
Brown Bears

The Brown Bears is a name shared by all sports teams at Brown University, a university located in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States....
5,821In Deo speramus
(In God we hope)
Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
New York City, New YorkLions
Columbia Lions

The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States....
7,407In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen
(In Thy light shall we see the light)
Cornell University
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York

The City of Ithaca sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York New York State, USA. It is best known for being home to Cornell University ? an Ivy League school with almost 20,000 students ....
Big Red
Cornell Big Red

The Cornell Big Red is the name of the sports teams, and other competitive teams, at Cornell University. The men's and women's Big Red teams are National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams that compete in the Ivy League....
13,510I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private university, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, New Hampshire. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College,"...
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover, New Hampshire

Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 10,850 at the 2000 census....
Big Green4,164Vox clamantis in deserto
(A voice crying in the wilderness, The voice of one crying in the wilderness)
Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England....
Crimson6,715Veritas
(Truth)
Princeton University
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey is located in Mercer County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. Princeton University has been sited in the town since 1756....
Tigers4,790Dei sub numine viget
(Under God's power she flourishes)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaQuakers10,163Leges sine moribus vanae
(Laws without morals are useless)
Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the third largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport, Connecticut and Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000 people....
Bulldogs5,275????? ??????
Urim and Thummim

In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim is a phrase from the Hebrew Bible associated with the Hoshen , divination in general, and cleromancy in particular....

Lux et veritas
(Light and truth)


History


Year founded

InstitutionFoundedFounding religious affiliation
Harvard College
Harvard College

Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University, a private university in the United States founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature....
1636 as New CollegeCalvinist (specifically Congregationalist
Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestantism Christianity churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each Wiktionary:congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
 puritan
Puritan

A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group pietism....
s; sided with Unitarians
Unitarianism

Unitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity . It is the philosophy upon which the modern Unitarian movement was based, and, according to its proponents, is the Early Christianity of Christianity....
 in the 1825 split from Congregationalism)
Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
1701 as Collegiate SchoolCalvinist (Congregationalist
Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestantism Christianity churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each Wiktionary:congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
1740Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian

Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private Types of educational institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious denomination....
, but founded by Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 members
Princeton University
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
1746 as College of New JerseyNonsectarian
Nonsectarian

Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private Types of educational institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious denomination....
, but founded by Calvinists (Presbyterians
Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism is a group of Christian congregations adhering to the Calvinism theological tradition within Protestantism. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Bible and the necessity of Divine grace through faith in Christ....
)
Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
1754 as King's CollegeChurch of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
Brown University
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
1764 as College of Rhode IslandBaptist
Baptist

A Baptist is a member of a Christian denomination characterized by the rejection of infant baptism in favor of believer's baptism by Baptism#Immersion....
, but founding charter promises "no religious tests" and "full liberty of conscience"
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private university, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, New Hampshire. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College,"...
1769Calvinist (Congregationalist
Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestantism Christianity churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each Wiktionary:congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
)
Cornell University
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
1865Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian

Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private Types of educational institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious denomination....
Note Founding dates and religious affiliations are those stated by the institution itself. Many of them had complex histories in their early years and the stories of their origins are subject to interpretation. See footnotes for details where appropriate. "Religious affiliation" refers to financial sponsorship, formal association with, and promotion by, a religious denomination. All of the schools in the Ivy League are private and not currently associated with any religion.


Origin of the name

The first usage of "Ivy" in reference to a group of colleges is from sportswriter Stanley Woodward (1895–1965).

According to book Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (1988), author William Morris writes that Stanley Woodward actually took the term from fellow New York Tribune
New York Tribune

The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States....
 sportswriter Caswell Adams. Morris writes that during the 1930s, the Fordham University
Fordham University

'Fordham University' is a private university university in the United States, with three campuses located in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in 1841 as St....
 football
College football

College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American University, colleges, and United States military academies....
 team was running roughshod over all its opponents. One day in the sports room at the Tribune, the merits of Fordham's football team were being compared to Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
 and Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
. Adams remarked disparagingly of the latter two, saying they were "only Ivy League." Woodward, the sports editor of the Tribune, picked up the term and printed the next day.

Note though that in the above quote Woodward used the term ivy college, not ivy league as Adams is said to have used, so there is a discrepancy in this theory, although it seems certain the term ivy college and shortly later Ivy League acquired its name from the sports world.

The first known instance of the term Ivy League being used appeared in the Christian Science Monitor on February 7, 1935 Several sports-writers and other journalists used the term shortly later to refer to the older colleges, those along the northeastern seaboard of the United States, chiefly the nine institutions with origins dating from the colonial era
Colonial colleges

The Colonial Colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies before the American Revolution . These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature....
, together with the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
 (West Point), the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps....
, and a few others. These schools were known for their long-standing traditions in intercollegiate athletics, often being the first schools to participate in such activities. However, at this time, none of these institutions would make efforts to form an athletic league. The Ivy League's name derives from the ivy plants, symbolic of their age, that cover many of these institutions' historic buildings. The Ivy League universities are also called the "Ancient Eight" or simply the Ivies.

A common folk etymology attributes the name to the Roman numerals for four (IV), asserting that there was such a sports league originally with four members. The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins helped to perpetuate this belief. The supposed "IV League" was formed over a century ago and consisted of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and a 4th school that varies depending on who is telling the story.

However, representatives from four schools, Rutgers
Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766 and is the Colonial colleges in the United States....
, Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
, Yale
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
 and Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
 met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 on October 19, 1873 to establish a set of rules governing their intercollegiate athletic competition, and particularly to codify the new game of college football (which at the time, largely resembled what is currently called rugby
Rugby union

Rugby union is a competitive outdoor contact sport, played with an oval ball, by two teams of 15 players. It is one of the two main codes of rugby football, the other being rugby league....
). Though invited, Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 chose not to attend. While no formal organization or conference was established, the results of this meeting governed athletic events between these schools well into the twentieth century.

Before there was an Ivy League

Seven of the Ivy League schools are older than the American Revolution
American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
; Cornell was founded just after the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
. These seven provided the overwhelming majority of the higher education in the Northern and Middle Colonies; their early faculties and founding boards were largely, therefore, drawn from other Ivy League institutions; there were also some British graduates - more from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
 than Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, but also from the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom....
 and elsewhere. Similarly, the founder of The College of William & Mary, in 1693, was a British graduate of the University of Edinburgh. And the founders of Rutgers University
Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766 and is the Colonial colleges in the United States....
, in 1766, were largely Ivy; and so for many of the colleges formed after the Revolution. Cornell provided Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
 with its first president
David Starr Jordan

David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenics, ichthyologist , educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University....
, and most of Stanford's initial faculty members were Cornell professors. The founders of UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
 came from Yale, hence their school colors of Yale Blue
Yale Blue

Yale Blue is the dark blue color used in association with Yale University. It is defined as the color of light with a 482-nm wavelength, yet more practically varies with use and history....
, and California Gold.

As a group, the Ivy League has or had an identifiable Protestant "tone." Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 King's College broke up in the Revolution, and was reformed as public non-sectarian Columbia College
Columbia College of Columbia University

Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the New York City....
. In the early nineteenth century, the specific purpose of training Calvinist ministers was handed off to theological seminaries; but a denominational tone, and such relics as compulsory chapel, often lasted well into the twentieth century. Penn and Brown were officially founded as nonsectarian; Brown's charter promised no religious tests and "full liberty of conscience," but placed control in the hands of a board of twenty-two Baptists, five Quakers, four Congregationalists, and five Episcopalians. Cornell has always been strongly non-sectarian from its founding.

"Ivy League" therefore also became, like WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, commonly abbreviated to the acronym WASP, is a sociology and culture pejorative ethnonym that originated in the United States of America....
, a way of referring to this elite
Elite

Elite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant Group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status envied by individuals of lower social status....
, and elitist, class
Social class

Social class refers to the hierarchy distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Usually most societies have some notion of social class , but concretely defined social classes are not found in every known type of human societies....
, even though institutions such as Cornell University were also among the first in the United States to reject racial and gender discrimination in their admissions policies. This sense dates back to at least 1935. Novels and memoirs attest this sense, as a social elite; to some degree independent of the actual schools.

After the Second World War, the present Ivy League institutions slowly widened their selection of students. They had always had distinguished faculties; some of the first Americans with doctorate
Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession ....
s had taught for them; but they now decided that they could not both be world-class research institutions and be competitive in the highest ranks of American college sport; in addition, the schools experienced the scandals of any other big-time football programs, although more quietly.

History of the athletic league

The Ivies have been competing in sports as long as intercollegiate sports have existed in the United States. Boat clubs from Harvard and Yale met in the first sporting event held between students of two U.S. colleges on Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee

Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 21 miles long and from one to nine miles wide , covering 69 square miles , with a maximum depth of 212 feet ....
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States of America. The state was named after the southern English Counties of England of Hampshire....
, in 1852. As an informal football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
 league, the Ivy League dates from 1900 when Yale
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
 took the conference championship with a 5-0 record. For many years Army (the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
) and Navy (the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps....
) were considered members, but dropped out shortly before formal organization. For instance, Army traditionally had a rivalry with Yale, and Rutgers had rivalries with Princeton and Columbia, which continue today in sports other than football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
.

The first formal league involving Ivy League teams was formed in 1902, when Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Yale and Princeton formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League. They were later joined by Penn, Dartmouth and Brown.

Before the formal establishment of the Ivy League, there was an "unwritten and unspoken agreement among certain Eastern colleges on athletic relations". In 1935, The Associated Press reported on an example of collaboration between the schools:

"the athletic authorities of the so-called "Ivy League" are considering drastic measures to curb the increasing tendency toward riotous attacks on goal posts and other encroachments by spectators on playing fields."


Despite such collaboration, the universities did not seem to consider the formation of the league as imminent. Romeyn Berry
Romeyn Berry

Romeyn Berry was an American sports administrator.Nicknamed "Rym," Berry attended Cornell University, graduating in 1904 and earning a law degree in 1906....
, Cornell's manager of athletics, reported the situation in January 1936 as follows:

"I can say with certainty that in the last five years — and markedly in the last three months — there has been a strong drift among the eight or ten universities of the East which see a good deal of one another in sport toward a closer bond of confidence and cooperation and toward the formation of a common front against the threat of a breakdown in the ideals of amateur sport in the interests of supposed expediency."


"Please do not regard that statement as implying the organization of an Eastern conference or even a poetic 'Ivy League.' That sort of thing does not seem to be in the cards at the moment."


Within a year of this statement and having held one-month-long discussions about the proposal, on December 3, 1936, the idea of "the formation of an Ivy League" gained enough traction among the undergraduate bodies of the universities that the Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia Daily Spectator

Columbia Daily Spectator is the daily newspaper, written by Columbia University undergraduates, servicing the university community and the neighborhood of Morningside Heights....
, The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun

The Cornell Daily Sun is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University. It is the oldest continually-independent college daily in the United States....
, The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth

The Dartmouth , is a free daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College published by The Dartmouth, Inc., an independent, nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire....
, The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates....
, The Daily Pennsylvanian
The Daily Pennsylvanian

The Daily Pennsylvanian is the independent daily student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania.It is published every weekday when the university is in session by a staff of more than 250 students....
, The Daily Princetonian
The Daily Princetonian

The Daily Princetonian is the daily independent student newspaper of Princeton University. It is published five days a week from September to May and three days a week during the University's Reading Period in January and May....
 and the Yale Daily News
Yale Daily News

The Yale Daily News is a newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878. The paper's first editors wrote:...
 would simultaneously run an editorial entitled "Now Is the Time", encouraging the seven universities to form the league in an effort to preserve the ideals of athletics. Part of the editorial read as follows:

"The Ivy League exists already in the minds of a good many of those connected with football, and we fail to see why the seven schools concerned should be satisfied to let it exist as a purely nebulous entity where there are so many practical benefits which would be possible under definite organized association. The seven colleges involved fall naturally together by reason of their common interests and similar general standards and by dint of their established national reputation they are in a particularly advantageous position to assume leadership for the preservation of the ideals of intercollegiate athletics."


The proposal did not succeed — on January 11, 1937, the athletic authorities at the schools rejected the "possibility of a heptagonal league in football such as these institutions maintain in basketball, baseball and track." However, they noted that the league "has such promising possibilities that it may not be dismissed and must be the subject of further consideration."

In 1945 the presidents of the eight schools signed the first Ivy Group Agreement, which set academic, financial, and athletic standards for the football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
 teams. The principles established reiterated those put forward in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Presidents' Agreement of 1916. The Ivy Group Agreement established the core tenet that an applicant's ability to play on a team would not influence admissions decisions:

"The members of the Group reaffirm their prohibition of athletic scholarships. Athletes shall be admitted as students and awarded financial aid only on the basis of the same academic standards and economic need as are applied to all other students."'


In 1954, the date generally accepted as the birth of the Ivy League, the presidents extended the Ivy Group Agreement to all intercollegiate sports. Competition began with the 1956 season.

As late as the 1960s many of the Ivy League universities' undergraduate programs remained open only to men, with Cornell the only one to have been coeducational from its founding (1865) and Columbia being the last (1983) to become coeducation
Coeducation

Mixed-sex education , is the integrated education of males and females in the same institution. The opposite situation is described as single-sex education....
al. Before they became coeducational, many of the Ivy schools maintained extensive social ties with nearby Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (colleges)

The Seven Sisters are seven Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Northeastern United States that are historically Women's colleges in the United States....
 women's college
Women's college

Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women....
s, including weekend visits, dances and parties inviting Ivy and Seven Sisters students to mingle. This was the case not only at Barnard College
Barnard College

Barnard College is a Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States founded in 1889. Barnard is affiliated with Columbia University, but Barnard maintains an independent campus in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City, and separate faculty, administrati...
 and Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College

Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University....
, which are adjacent to Columbia and Harvard, but at more distant institutions as well. The movie Animal House includes a satiric version of the formerly common visits by Dartmouth men to Massachusetts to meet Smith
Smith College

Smith College is a Private university, Independent school Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Northampton, Massachusetts....
 and Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College is a highly selective Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Massachusetts....
 women, a drive of more than two hours. As noted by Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra, "the 'Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (colleges)

The Seven Sisters are seven Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Northeastern United States that are historically Women's colleges in the United States....
' was the name given to Barnard, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Vassar
Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational, Liberal arts colleges in the United States situated in the town of Poughkeepsie , New York, New York, United States....
, Bryn Mawr
Bryn Mawr College

'Bryn Mawr College' is a highly selective Women's colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, Wellesley, and Radcliffe, because of their parallel to the Ivy League men’s colleges."

Cohesiveness of the group

The Ivy League schools are highly selective, with acceptance rates ranging from about 7 to 20 percent from an application pool that consists of the top high school students in the country.

These universities engage in a heated competition to attract students, illustrated by a 2002 incident in which admissions officers at Princeton logged into the Yale admissions website fourteen times to view the admissions status of cross-applicants, using the names, birth dates, and social security numbers indicated on their Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
 applications; Princeton later asserted that it had been considering a similar system of early Internet notification, and was surprised to find that Yale had used no password besides the Social Security number. Yale's administration notified the FBI about the actions after conducting its own investigation. Princeton moved one admissions official to a different department over the incident and the university's Dean of Admissions retired soon thereafter, though Princeton president Shirley Tilghman said that the dean's decision to retire was unconnected to the incident.

Collaboration between the member schools is illustrated by the student-led Ivy Council
Ivy Council

The Ivy Council is a student-led, student-directed, non-profit organization which consists of representatives of the Ivy League student governments....
 that meets in the fall and spring of each year, with representatives from every Ivy League school. At these multi-day conferences, student representatives from each school meet to discuss issues facing their respective institutions, with a variety of topics ranging from financial aid to gender-neutral housing.

Social elitism


The phrase Ivy League historically has been perceived as connected not only with academic excellence, but also with social elitism. In 1936, sportwriter John Kieran noted that student editors at Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
, Yale
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
, Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
, Cornell
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
, Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, Dartmouth
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private university, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, New Hampshire. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College,"...
, and Penn
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
 were advocating the formation of an athletic association. In urging them to consider "Army
United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
 and Navy
United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps....
 and Georgetown
Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a Society of Jesus private university located in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Father John Carroll founded the school in 1789, though its roots extend back to 1634....
 and Fordham
Fordham University

'Fordham University' is a private university university in the United States, with three campuses located in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in 1841 as St....
 and Syracuse
Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, New York. It was founded as a university in 1870, but its roots can be traced back to a seminary founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832 which eventually became Genesee College....
 and Brown
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
 and Pitt
University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States....
" as candidates for membership, he exhorted:

"It would be well for the proponents of the Ivy League to make it clear (to themselves especially) that the proposed group would be inclusive but not 'exclusive' as this term is used with a slight up-tilting of the tip of the nose".


The Ivy League was specifically associated with the WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, commonly abbreviated to the acronym WASP, is a sociology and culture pejorative ethnonym that originated in the United States of America....
 establishment. Phrases such as "Ivy League snobbery" are ubiquitous in nonfiction and fiction writing of the twentieth century. A Louis Auchincloss
Louis Auchincloss

Louis Stanton Auchincloss is an American novelist, historian, and essayist....
 character dreads "the aridity of snobbery which he knew infected the Ivy League colleges". A business writer, warning in 2001 against discriminatory hiring, presented a cautionary example of an attitude to avoid (the bracketed phrase is his):

"We Ivy Leaguers [read: mostly white and Anglo] know that an Ivy League degree is a mark of the kind of person who is likely to succeed in this organization."


Aspects of Ivy stereotyping were illustrated during the 1988 presidential election, when George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Bush held a variety of political positions prior to his presidency, including Vice President of the United States in the administration of Ronald Reagan and Director of Central Intelligence under Gerald R....
 (Yale '48) derided Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis

Michael Stanley Dukakis is an American Democratic Party politician, former Governor of Massachusetts, and was the Democratic Party United States presidential election, 1988....
 (graduate of Harvard Law School) for having "foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times. She has worked for the Times since 1983, when she joined as a metropolitan reporter....
 asked "Wasn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle elite?" Bush explained however that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was "so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it.... Harvard boutique to me has the connotation of liberalism and elitism" and said Harvard in his remark was intended to represent "a philosophical enclave" and not a statement about class.. Columnist Russell Baker
Russell Baker

For the investigative journalist, see Russ BakerRussell Wayne Baker is an United States Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up....
 opined that "Voters inclined to loathe and fear elite Ivy League schools rarely make fine distinctions between Yale and Harvard. All they know is that both are full of rich, fancy, stuck-up and possibly dangerous intellectuals who never sit down to supper in their undershirt
Undershirt

An undershirt is an article of underwear worn underneath a shirt. This is to protect dress shirts from sweat and smells. It also makes dress shirts less transparent....
 no matter how hot the weather gets."

Cooperation

Seven of the eight schools (Harvard excluded) participate in the Borrow Direct interlibrary loan
Interlibrary loan

Interlibrary loan is a service whereby a user of one library can borrow books or receive photocopies of documents that are owned by another library....
 program, making a total of 88 million items available to participants with a waiting period of four working days. This ILL
Interlibrary loan

Interlibrary loan is a service whereby a user of one library can borrow books or receive photocopies of documents that are owned by another library....
 program is not affiliated with the formal Ivy arrangement.

The governing body of the Ivy League is the Council of Ivy Group Presidents. During their meetings, the presidents often discuss common procedures and initiatives.

Competition and athletics

Ivy champions are recognized in 33 men's and women's sports. In some sports, Ivy teams actually compete as members of another league, the Ivy championship being decided by isolating the members' records in play against each other. (For example, the six league members who participate in ice hockey
Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey, is a team sport played on ice. It is a fast paced and physical sport. Ice hockey is most popular in areas that are sufficiently cold for natural reliable seasonal ice cover such as Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia and Russia, though with the advent of indoor artificial ice r...
 do so as members of ECAC Hockey; but an Ivy champion is extrapolated each year.) Unlike all other Division I basketball
Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a basketball through a 10 feet  high hoop under organized rules....
 conferences, the Ivy League has no tournament for the league title; the school with the best conference record represents the conference in the Division I NCAA Basketball Tournament (with a playoff in the case of a tie).

On average, each Ivy school has more than 35 varsity teams. All eight are in the top 20 for number of sports offered for both men and women among Division I schools. Unlike most Division I athletic conferences, the Ivy League prohibits the granting of athletic scholarships; all scholarships awarded are need-based (financial aid
Financial aid

Student financial aid refers to funding intended to help students pay education expenses including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, etc....
). Ivy League teams out of league games are usually against the members of the Patriot League
Patriot League

The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; in American football, it participates in the Division I#Football Championship Subdivision ....
 which have similar academic standards and athletic scholarship policies.

In the time before recruiting for college sports became dominated by those offering athletic scholarships and lowered academic standards for athletes, the Ivy League was successful in many sports relative to other universities in the country. In particular, Princeton won 24 recognized national championships in college football
College football

College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American University, colleges, and United States military academies....
 (Last Div I championship in 1911), and Yale won 19 (Last Div I championship in 1927). Both of these totals are considerably higher than those of other historically strong programs such as Alabama
Alabama Crimson Tide football

The Alabama Crimson Tide football program is a college football team that represents the University of Alabama . The team currently competes in NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship as a member of the Southeastern Conference....
 and Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the college football team of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States. The team competes as an NCAA Division I-A independent schools at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level....
, which have won 12, and USC, which has won 11. Yale, whose coach Walter Camp
Walter Camp

Walter Chauncey Camp was a sports writer and American football coach known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Glenn Scobey Warner, Fielding H....
 was the "Father of American Football," held on to its place as the all-time wins leader in college football throughout the entire 20th century, but was finally passed by Michigan
Michigan Wolverines football

The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan. They have the most all-time wins and highest all-time winning percentage in NCAA Division I-A history....
 on November 10, 2001. Currently Dartmouth holds the record for most Ivy League football titles, with 17.

Although no longer as successful nationally as they once were in many of the more popular college sports, the Ivy League is still competitive in others. One such example is rowing
College rowing (United States)

Rowing is the oldest :Category:Intercollegiate athletics in the United States. Despite this, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes....
. All of the Ivies have historically been among the top crews in the nation, and most continue to be so today. (Other historical top crews include Cal
California Golden Bears

The California Golden Bears is the nickname used for 27 varsity athletic programs of the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I primarily as a member of the Pacific-10 Conference, and for a limite...
, Washington
Washington Huskies

Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The school is a member of the Pacific-10 Conference. The athletic program is made up of 11 men's sports and 12 women's sports ....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletic program has teams in American football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country running, tennis, swimming, collegiate wrestling, athletics , Rowing , golf, and so...
 and Navy
Navy Midshipmen

The United States Naval Academy sponsors 27 varsity sports. Both men's and women's teams are called Navy Midshipmen. They participate in Division I-A and are a non-football member of the Patriot League....
). Most recently, on the men's side, Harvard won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association
Intercollegiate Rowing Association

The Intercollegiate Rowing Association runs the IRA Championship Regatta, which is considered to be the United States College athletics national championship of rowing ....
 Championships in 2003, 2004, 2005, and on the women's side, Harvard and Brown won the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Rowing Championships, respectively. Additionally, Cornell's men's lightweight team won back to back to back IRA National Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Ivy League schools are also very competitive in both men's and women's hockey.

The Ivy League is home to some of the oldest college rugby
College rugby

Collegiate club rugby is played throughout universities in the United States of America. Unlike most university sports, collegiate club rugby is not administered by the National Collegiate Athletic Association or university athletic departments and is instead regulated by USA Rugby and club rec departments....
 teams. These teams meet annually to compete in a tourney. The 2006 Ivy League Tournament was hosted by Yale, and the 2005 tournament was hosted by Penn. Though the women's rugby teams at the Ivy League schools are much younger, they too compete in an annual Ivy League Tournament, often hosted by Brown.

Internal rivalries

Harvard and Yale are celebrated football and crew
Harvard-Yale Regatta

The Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard-Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University universities....
 rivals.

Princeton and Penn are longstanding men's basketball rivals and "Puck Fenn", "Puck Frinceton", and "Pennetrate the Puss" t-shirts are worn at games. In only five instances in the history of Ivy League basketball, and in only three seasons since Dartmouth's 1957–58 title, has neither Penn nor Princeton won at least a share of the Ivy League title in basketball, with each champion or co-champion 25 times. Penn has won 21 outright, Princeton 18 outright. Princeton has been a co-champion 7 times, sharing 4 of those titles with Penn (these 4 seasons represent the only times Penn has been co-champion). Cornell is the reigning (2009) Ivy League men's basketball champion, achieving its second consecutive league title.

Rivalries exist between other Ivy league teams in other sports, including Cornell and Harvard in hockey
Cornell-Harvard hockey rivalry

The Cornell-Harvard Hockey Game or The Game is a men's ice hockey sports rivalry between the Big Red of Cornell University and the Crimson of Harvard University dating back to 1910....
, Harvard and Princeton in swimming, and Harvard and Penn in football (Penn and Harvard have each had two unbeaten seasons since 2001.).

Furthermore, no team other than Harvard or Princeton has won the men's swimming conference title since 1972, with Harvard winning the 34 year series 20–16 as of 2008.

Conference facilities

School Football stadium Basketball arena Ice hockey rink Soccer stadium
Name Capacity Name Capacity Name Capacity Name Capacity
Brown
Brown University

Brown University is a private university university located in , United States and is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and Colonial Colleges in the United States....
Brown Stadium
Brown Stadium

Brown Stadium is a football stadium located in Providence, Rhode Island. It is the home of Brown University's American football and outdoor track teams....
20,000Pizzitola Sports Center
Pizzitola Sports Center

The Paul Bailey Pizzitola Memorial Sports Center, often referred to as "the Pitz" by students, is a 2,800-seat multi-purpose athletic center in Providence, Rhode Island and was built in 1989....
2,800Meehan Auditorium
Meehan Auditorium

The George V. Meehan Auditorium is a 3,059-seat hockey arena in Providence, Rhode Island. The arena opened in 1961 and was dedicated on January 6, 1962....
3,100Stevenson Field
Stevenson Field

Stevenson Field is a stadium in Providence, Rhode Island on the campus of Brown University. It is home to the Brown Bears soccer and lacrosse programs....
3,500
Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
Wien Stadium
Lawrence A. Wien Stadium

Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at the Baker Field Athletics Complex is a stadium located in Manhattan, New York. It is primarily used for American football, lacrosse, and track and field events, and is the home field of the Columbia University Lions....
17,000Levien Gymnasium
Levien Gymnasium

Levien Gymnasium is a 3,408-seat arena at Columbia University in New York City. It is home to the Columbia Lions basketball team, and is also used for gym classes in between games....
3,408 N/AColumbia Soccer Stadium
Columbia Soccer Stadium

Columbia Soccer Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. It is home to the Columbia Lions soccer teams....
3,500
Cornell
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
Schoellkopf Field
Schoellkopf Field

Schoellkopf Field is a 25,597-capacity stadium at Cornell University's Ithaca, New York-campus that opened in 1915 and is used for the Cornell Big Red American football, sprint football, lacrosse and field hockey teams....
25,597Newman Arena
Newman Arena

Newman Arena is a 4,473-seat multi-purpose arena at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, located in Bartels Hall, which is adjacent to Lynah Rink....
4,472Lynah Rink
Lynah Rink

Lynah Rink is a 4,267-seat hockey arena at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, that opened in 1957. Named after James Lynah, Class of 1905, who was the director of Cornell athletics from 1935-1943, it is home to the Cornell Big Red men's and women's ice hockey teams....
4,267Charles F. Berman Field
Charles F. Berman Field

Charles F. Berman Field is a multi-use stadium in Ithaca, New York on the campus of Cornell University. It is home to Cornell soccer and track and field....
1,000
Dartmouth
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private university, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, New Hampshire. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College,"...
Memorial Field
Memorial Field (Dartmouth)

Memorial Field is a football stadium located in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. It is the home of Dartmouth College's Big Green football and outdoor track teams....
13,000Leede Arena
Leede Arena

Edward Leede Arena is a 2,100-seat, multi-purpose arena in Hanover, New Hampshire. Built in 1986, it is home to the Dartmouth College Big Green basketball team....
2,100Thompson Arena
Thompson Arena

Rupert C. Thompson Arena is a 3,500-seat hockey arena in Hanover, New Hampshire. It is home to the Dartmouth College Big Green men's and women's ice hockey teams....
5,000Burnham Soccer Facility1,600
Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
Harvard Stadium
Harvard Stadium

Harvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped American football stadium in the Allston, Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States....
30,898Lavietes Pavilion
Lavietes Pavilion

The Ray Lavietes Basketball Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center is a 2,195-seat multi-purpose arena in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
2,195Bright Hockey Center
Bright Hockey Center

The Alexander C. Bright Hockey Center is a 2,850-seat ice hockey arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to the Harvard University Crimson men's and women's ice hockey teams....
2,850Ohiri Field
Ohiri Field

Ohiri Field is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is home to the Harvard Crimson soccer teams....
1,500
Penn
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
Franklin Field
Franklin Field

Franklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for American football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football, and track and field ....
52,593The Palestra
Palestra

The Palestra, also known as the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the University of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania#Athletics men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball....
8,722The Class of 1923 Arena
Class of 1923 Arena

The Class of 1923 Arena is the skating rink of the University of Pennsylvania.In 1968, alumni from the Class of 1923 formed the group "Friends of Pennsylvania Hockey," led by Howard Butcher, III....
2,900Rhodes Field~700
Princeton
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
Princeton Stadium27,800Jadwin Gymnasium
Jadwin Gymnasium

The L. Stockwell Jadwin Gymnasium is a 6,854-seat multi-purpose arena in Princeton, New Jersey. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers basketball team....
6,854Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
Hobey Baker Memorial Rink

Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is a 2,092-seat hockey arena in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers men's and women's ice hockey teams as well as the venue for club and intramural hockey teams, intramural broomball, figure skating and recreational skating....
2,094Roberts Stadium
Roberts Stadium

Roberts Stadium is the name of several stadiums in the United States.*M. M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi as part of the The University of Southern Mississippi's campus....
3,000
Yale
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
Yale Bowl
Yale Bowl

The Yale Bowl is a American football stadium in New Haven, Connecticut on the border of West Haven, Connecticut, about 1-1/2 miles west of Yale's main campus....
64,269Payne Whitney Gym3,100Ingalls Rink
Ingalls Rink

David S. Ingalls Rink is a hockey rink designed by architect Eero Saarinen and built between 1953 and 1958 for Yale University. Commonly referred to as The Whale, due to its appearance....
3,486Reese Stadium
Reese Stadium

Reese Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is home to the Yale Bulldogs soccer and lacrosse teams....
3,000


Dartmouth also owns and operates the Dartmouth Skiway
Dartmouth Skiway

The Dartmouth Skiway is a Ski resort located about twenty minutes north of Dartmouth College in Lyme, New Hampshire. It has thirty trails from easiest to most difficult on over 100 acres of skiable area....
, the home racing grounds for the 2007 NCAA skiing champions.

Other Ivies

Marketing groups, journalists, and some educators sometimes promote other colleges as "Ivies," as in Little Ivies
Little Ivies

Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American colleges and universities; however, it does not denote any official organization....
; Public Ivies; Southern Ivies; and Canadian Ivies. These uses of "ivy" are intended to promote the other schools by comparing them to the Ivy League, but unlike the "Ivy League" label, they have no canonical definition. For example, in the 2007 edition of Newsweek's How to Get Into College Now, the editors designated twenty-five schools as "New Ivies," some of which share no characteristics with the Ivy League colleges except a good reputation.

The term "Ivy Plus" is sometimes used to refer to the Ancient Eight plus several other schools for purposes of alumni associations, university affiliations, or endowment analysis. The inclusion of non-Ivy Leagues schools under this term is not highly consistent across uses. Among these other schools, the ones most commonly included in the "Ivy Plus" are University of Chicago
University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its founding to the oil magnate John D....
, Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Hopkins or JHU, is a private university research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland, United States....
, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private university research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
.

Championships


Football

  • 1956 Yale
  • 1957 Princeton
  • 1958 Dartmouth
  • 1959 Pennsylvania
  • 1960 Yale
  • 1961 Columbia and Harvard
  • 1962 Dartmouth
  • 1963 Dartmouth and Princeton
  • 1964 Princeton
  • 1965 Dartmouth
  • 1966 Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton
  • 1967 Yale
  • 1968 Harvard and Yale
  • 1969 Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale
  • 1970 Dartmouth
  • 1971 Cornell and Dartmouth
  • 1972 Dartmouth
  • 1973 Dartmouth
  • 1974 Harvard and Yale
  • 1975 Harvard
  • 1976 Brown and Yale
  • 1977 Yale
  • 1978 Dartmouth
  • 1979 Yale
  • 1980 Yale
  • 1981 Dartmouth and Yale
  • 1982 Dartmouth, Harvard and Pennsylvania
  • 1983 Harvard and Pennsylvania
  • 1984 Pennsylvania
  • 1985 Pennsylvania
  • 1986 Pennsylvania
  • 1987 Harvard
  • 1988 Cornell and Pennsylvania
  • 1989 Princeton and Yale
  • 1990 Cornell and Dartmouth
  • 1991 Dartmouth
  • 1992 Dartmouth and Princeton
  • 1993 Pennsylvania
  • 1994 Pennsylvania
  • 1995 Princeton
  • 1996 Dartmouth
  • 1997 Harvard
  • 1998 Pennsylvania
  • 1999 Brown and Yale
  • 2000 Pennsylvania
  • 2001 Harvard
  • 2002 Pennsylvania
  • 2003 Pennsylvania
  • 2004 Harvard
  • 2005 Brown
  • 2006 Princeton and Yale
  • 2007 Harvard
  • 2008 Brown and Harvard


  • Men's Basketball

    • 1955–56 Dartmouth
    • 1956–57 Yale
    • 1957–58 Dartmouth
    • 1958–59 Dartmouth, Princeton
    • 1959–60 Princeton
    • 1960–61 Princeton
    • 1961–62 Yale
    • 1962–63 Princeton, Yale
    • 1963–64 Princeton
    • 1964–65 Princeton
    • 1965–66 Pennsylvania
    • 1966–67 Princeton
    • 1967–68 Columbia, Princeton
    • 1968–69 Princeton
    • 1969–70 Pennsylvania
    • 1970–71 Pennsylvania
    • 1971–72 Pennsylvania
    • 1972–73 Pennsylvania
    • 1973–74 Pennsylvania
    • 1974–75 Pennsylvania
    • 1975–76 Princeton
    • 1976–77 Princeton
    • 1977–78 Pennsylvania
    • 1978–79 Pennsylvania
    • 1979–80 Pennsylvania, Princeton
    • 1980–81 Pennsylvania, Princeton
    • 1981–82 Pennsylvania
  • 1982–83 Princeton
  • 1983–84 Princeton
  • 1984–85 Pennsylvania
  • 1985–86 Brown
  • 1986–87 Pennsylvania
  • 1987–88 Cornell
  • 1988–89 Princeton
  • 1989–90 Princeton
  • 1990–91 Princeton
  • 1991–92 Princeton
  • 1992–93 Pennsylvania
  • 1993–94 Pennsylvania
  • 1994–95 Pennsylvania
  • 1995–96 Pennsylvania, Princeton
  • 1996–97 Princeton
  • 1997–98 Princeton
  • 1998–99 Pennsylvania
  • 1999–00 Pennsylvania
  • 2000–01 Princeton
  • 2001–02 Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale
  • 2002–03 Pennsylvania
  • 2003–04 Princeton
  • 2004–05 Pennsylvania
  • 2005–06 Pennsylvania
  • 2006–07 Pennsylvania
  • 2007–08 Cornell
  • 2008–09 Cornell


  • Men's Ice Hockey

    • 1934 Dartmouth
    • 1935 Yale
    • 1936 Harvard
    • 1937 Harvard
    • 1938 Dartmouth
    • 1939 Dartmouth
    • 1940 Yale
    • 1941 Princeton
    • 1942 Dartmouth
    • 1943 Dartmouth
    • 1947 Dartmouth
    • 1948 Dartmouth
    • 1949 Dartmouth
    • 1950 Brown
    • 1951 Brown
    • 1952 Yale
    • 1953 Princeton
    • 1954 Harvard
    • 1955 Harvard
    • 1956 Harvard
    • 1957 Harvard
    • 1958 Harvard
    • 1959 Dartmouth
    • 1960 Dartmouth
    • 1961 Harvard
    • 1962 Harvard
    • 1963 Harvard
    • 1964 Dartmouth
    • 1965 Brown
    • 1966 Cornell
    • 1967 Cornell
    • 1968 Cornell
    • 1969 Cornell
    • 1970 Cornell
    • 1971 Cornell
    • 1972 Cornell
    • 1973 Cornell
  • 1974 Harvard
  • 1975 Harvard
  • 1976 Brown
  • 1977 Cornell
  • 1978 Cornell
  • 1979 Dartmouth
  • 1980 Dartmouth
  • 1981 Yale
  • 1982 Harvard
  • 1983 Harvard, Cornell
  • 1984 Harvard
  • 1985 Cornell, Harvard, Yale
  • 1986 Harvard
  • 1987 Harvard
  • 1988 Harvard
  • 1989 Harvard
  • 1990 Harvard
  • 1991 Brown
  • 1992 Yale
  • 1993 Harvard
  • 1994 Harvard
  • 1995 Brown
  • 1996 Cornell
  • 1997 Cornell
  • 1998 Yale
  • 1999 Princeton, Yale
  • 2000 Harvard
  • 2001 Yale
  • 2002 Cornell
  • 2003 Cornell
  • 2004 Brown, Cornell
  • 2005 Cornell
  • 2006 Harvard
  • 2007 Dartmouth, Yale
  • 2008 Princeton
  • 2009 Yale


  • See also

    • Big Three (universities) — a term used to refer to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton
    • Colonial colleges
      Colonial colleges

      The Colonial Colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies before the American Revolution . These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature....
       — the oldest U. S. colleges, overlaps the Ivy League with the exception of Cornell
    • Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence
      Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence

      Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence, is a college educational guide published in 2000. It concerns college admissions in the United States....
    • Jesuit Ivy
      Jesuit Ivy

      The "Jesuit Ivy" is the title of a commencement speech delivered at and, subsequently, a nickname given to Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts....
       — Complimentary use of "Ivy" to characterize Boston College
      Boston College

      Boston College is a private university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States, rendering it neither in Boston nor a college....
    • Little Ivies
      Little Ivies

      Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American colleges and universities; however, it does not denote any official organization....
       — group of U.S. liberal arts college
      Liberal arts college

      Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts. The Encyclop?dia Britannica Concise defines "liberal arts" as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational educati...
      s that parallel the Ivy League in some respects
    • Public Ivies — Group of public U.S. universities thought to "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price"
    • Seven Sisters
      Seven Sisters (colleges)

      The Seven Sisters are seven Liberal arts colleges in the United States in the Northeastern United States that are historically Women's colleges in the United States....
       — Historically, these were women's colleges each of which had a close tie to an Ivy League school.
    • Southern Ivies — Complimentary use of "Ivy" to characterize excellent universities in the U. S. South
    • Canadian Ivy League
      Canadian Ivy League

      The Canadian Ivy League, or "Canadian Ivies" , is an informal term used to describe selective List of universities in Canada. The label is derived from general rhetoric, and as such there is no strict list of the schools included in the group....
    Category:University organizations — other groups of universities


    External links

    Conference


    Members homepages


    Athletic homepages