Ivy League

The Ivy League is a group of eight private universities in the northeastern
United States. They are some of the oldest and most respected universities
in the United States. First coined informally to refer to these schools
which compete in both scholastics and sports, the term "Ivy League" also
refers to the formal association of these schools in NCAA Division I
athletic competition.

The members of the Ivy League are:

   * Brown University
   * Columbia University
   * Cornell University
   * Dartmouth College
   * Harvard University
   * Princeton University
   * University of Pennsylvania
   * Yale University

The term has connotations of academic excellence as well as a certain amount
of elitism. They are sometimes affectionately referred to as The Ancient Eight.

The term "Ivy Plus" is sometimes used to refer to the eight plus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University for purposes
of alumni associations and university gatherings. However, the term "Ivy
League" refers strictly to the original eight.

History

Caswell Adams of the New York Tribune made a passing comment about the
schools in 1937, referring to the ivy growing on their walls. Stanley
Woodward, a fellow sportswriter, coined the phrase in a column soon
thereafter, informally dubbing the eight competitive universities the Ivy
League, in advance of any formal sports league involving the schools.

In 1945 the athletic directors of the schools signed the first Ivy Group
Agreement, which set academic, financial, and athletic standards for the
football teams.

In 1954, the date generally accepted as the birth of the Ivy League, the
agreement was extended to all sports.

An apocryphal etymology attributes to the Roman numerals for four (IV),
incorrectly asserting that there was such a sports league originally with
four members.