The Little Ivies are an unofficial group of small, academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States . The term Little Ivy derives from these schools' small student bodies, standards of academic excellence, associated historic social prestige, and highly selective admissions comparable to the Ivy League . According to Bloomberg , the Little Ivies are also known for their large financial endowments , both absolutely and relative to their size.
43-615: The term is generally and most associated with the colleges of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with select schools from the Liberty League , Patriot League and the Centennial Conference . The term, however, was in active circulation to depict the original "Little Ivy" schools as schools and not merely athletic rivals at least as early as 1955. The New York Times quotes
86-488: A NESCAC institution was Calvin Coolidge , who graduated from Amherst College in 1895. President Chester Arthur was an 1848 graduate of Union College, a former NESCAC member, and President Woodrow Wilson was a professor at Wesleyan from 1888 to 1890. The New England Small College Athletic Conference sponsors championship competition in 13 men's and 14 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by
129-486: A general policy. One exception was made in 2012, when RIT successfully argued for a one-time opportunity for colleges with a D-I men's team to add a women's team. Since no more colleges would be allowed to move individual sports to D-I, the five non-scholarship programs (led by RIT and Union) petitioned to be allowed to offer scholarships in the interests of competitive equity. D-III membership voted in January 2022 to extend
172-467: A proper perspective on the role of sport in higher education. Member institutions believe athletic teams should be representative of school's entire student bodies and hew to NCAA Division III admissions and financial policies prohibiting athletic scholarships while awarding financial aid solely on the basis of need. Due to the prestigious reputations of its member schools, the NESCAC is able to attract many of
215-584: A range of high and relatively low tuition rates and comprehensive fees. Some of the colleges have been named the most expensive in the United States. Tufts University is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities . Most applicants to schools in the NESCAC come from the Northeast , largely from the New York City , Boston , and Philadelphia areas. As all NESCAC schools are located on
258-740: A term used by Bates College , Bowdoin College , and Colby College . The term is inspired by the " Big Three " Ivy League athletic rivalry between Harvard , Princeton , and Yale . Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College joined Bowdoin College to found the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in 1971, along with Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College , Middlebury College , Tufts University , Trinity College and Union College . Union College left and Connecticut College joined in 1977. A 2016 article by Bloomberg Businessweek lists
301-597: Is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their student-athletes. The NCAA's first split was into two divisions, the University and College Divisions, in 1956, the College Division was formed for smaller schools that did not have
344-447: Is about 2,750, although the range is from 418 to over 38,000. Approximately 40% of all NCAA student-athletes compete in D-III. D-III institutions must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, with each playing season represented by each gender. Teams in which men and women compete together are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. In a feature unique to D-III,
387-453: Is designed to create more LGBTQ inclusion in D-III athletics within the NCAA . The program has facilitators from more than 40 colleges across the country, including Smith College , Agnes Scott College , and more. The group publicly condemned laws trying to limit transgender people in sports in 2021. A member of the program – Rhea Debussy who is a transgender rights activist – publicly left
430-486: Is one of the longest at any level of college football. Bates and Bowdoin have competed against each other athletically since the 1870s and subsequently share one of the ten oldest NCAA Division III football rivalries, in the United States, there is a long history of athletic competition between the two colleges and Colby. Colby began its now most notable hockey rivalry, with Bowdoin in 1922. In 1899, Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams schools first began to compete together as
473-415: Is to benefit athletic programs. D-III schools "shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance". Financial aid given to athletes must be awarded under the same procedures as for the general student body, and the proportion of total financial aid given to athletes "shall be closely equivalent to the percentage of student-athletes within
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#1732859339147516-548: The Northeastern United States . The eleven institutions are Amherst College , Bates College , Bowdoin College , Colby College , Connecticut College , Hamilton College , Middlebury College , Tufts University , Trinity College , Wesleyan University , and Williams College . The conference originated with an agreement among Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams in 1955. In 1971, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, and Union College joined on and
559-471: The "Triangular League". Since then they have continued to play each other in most sports on a regular basis. The conference originated with an agreement among Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams in 1955. Later, Bates, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts joined and the NESCAC was officially formed. The Conference was created out of a concern for the direction of intercollegiate athletic programs and remains committed to keeping
602-700: The East Coast, and all but one are in New England, most graduates end up working and residing in the Northeast after graduation. Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds, and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food, and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, buildings/grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance costs. Many colleges banned fraternities and sororities on
645-581: The NCAA Division III regarding season length, number of contests and post-season competition. Four NESCAC institutions are among the 39 that founded the NCAA in 1905: Amherst, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams. Prior to 1993 NESCAC generally did not allow member schools to send teams to NCAA championships. Since then all sports except football have had this freedom, many excelling in the NCAA Division III championships. The NACDA Directors' Cup , awarded since 1996 to
688-484: The NCAA does not split into divisions. Teams in these sports are not counted as playing in a different division from the rest of the athletic program. D-III members cannot award scholarships in these sports. In 2003, concerned about the disparity of some D-III athletic programs and the focus on national championships, the D-III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell , proposed ending
731-550: The NESCAC provide significant financial aid to help increase the enrollment of lower income and middle class students. Schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference have graduated three U.S. presidents. The first president to graduate from the athletic conference was Franklin Pierce , the 14th president of the United States, a Bowdoin graduate of 1824. The 20th president, James A. Garfield , graduated from Williams College in 1856. The third U.S. president to graduate from
774-480: The NESCAC was officially formed. Union withdrew in 1977 and was replaced by Connecticut College in 1982. Members of the conference have some of the largest financial endowments of any liberal arts colleges in the world, with Williams College's $ 3.89 billion being the largest. Undergraduate enrollment at the schools ranges from about 1,800 (several institutions) to 6,000 (Tufts). Williams began its inaugural football season in 1881 and its rivalry with Amherst College
817-426: The New England Small College Athletic Conference that are played by NESCAC schools Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the New England Small College Athletic Conference that are played by NESCAC schools Until the 2017 season, the 10 football-playing NESCAC schools only played 8 regular season games. On April 27, 2017, the NESCAC announced that it would adopt a full 9-game round robin schedule. In addition to
860-717: The West Division. Connecticut College does not sponsor baseball. The NESCAC has won the College World Series once: by the Trinity Bantams in 2008. Current member schools have appeared in the College World Series a combined total of 5 times. The Middlebury Panthers lead the NESCAC in NCAA men's titles with 15, while the Williams Ephs lead in women's titles with 30 and in overall NCAA titles with 38. Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside
903-436: The athletic scholarship exemptions for D-I programs, eliminating redshirting, and limiting the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons. At the January 2004 NCAA convention, an amendment allowed the exemption for grandfathered D-I athletic scholarships to remain in place, but the rest of the reforms passed. D-III announced the creation of a LGBTQ inclusion program in 2019. Named as their LGBTQ OneTeam Program, it
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#1732859339147946-532: The ban on postseason play, the NESCAC football league is notable for member teams playing conference games only. While some Division II and Division III teams play only conference schedules, NESCAC is unique in all of its members playing only within conference games. NESCAC Baseball is the only men's sport to utilize divisions. Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Tufts, and Trinity compete in the East Division, while Amherst, Hamilton, Middlebury, Wesleyan, and Williams compete in
989-490: The college or university in each NCAA Division that wins the most college championships, has been claimed at the Division III level by a NESCAC institution every year except 1998. In the 2012–13 season, four of the top ten NACDA Director's Cup institutions were from NESCAC: Williams (1), Middlebury (3), Amherst (6), and Tufts (8). Member colleges of the athletic conference possesses some of the largest financial endowments in
1032-402: The grandfather clause to allow all ten colleges to offer athletic scholarships, effective immediately. Football and basketball may not be D-I programs at D-III institutions, because their revenue-enhancing potential would give them an unfair advantage over other D-III schools. In 1992, several D-I schools playing D-III football were forced to bring their football programs into D-I, following
1075-428: The grounds of unwarranted exclusivity, and provided on-campus social houses for all students to engage with. Williams College displaced their fraternity system in the 1960s due to high levels of racial and religious discrimination. Williams College President Chandler stated, "there remained the system of blackballing and secret agreements between some fraternities and their national bodies to exclude blacks and Jews... it
1118-519: The members of the Little Ivies as: The Little Ivies are also sub-grouped by the following consortia : New England Small College Athletic Conference The New England Small College Athletic Conference ( NESCAC ) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective liberal arts institutions of higher education in
1161-483: The most athletically and intellectually gifted student-athletes in the country. Members stress that intercollegiate athletic programs should operate in harmony with the educational mission of each institution. Schools are committed to maintaining common boundaries to keep athletics strong yet in proportion to their overall academic mission. Presidents of each NESCAC institution control intercollegiate athletic policy. Conference tenets are usually more restrictive than those of
1204-593: The oldest institutions of higher education in the United States, with Williams, Bowdoin and Middlebury being among the 40 oldest institutions in the country. The NESCAC currently has 11 full members; all are private schools. Every institution fields a football team except for Connecticut College. Many schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference are known for low grade inflation , grade deflation, and rigorous academic standards. Some members have received limited media coverage over perceived grade inflation and deflation. The colleges are also known for
1247-399: The organization's requirements for "all-sports" status. Ten D-III schools currently field Division I programs in one or two sports, one maximum for each gender. These schools are allowed to offer athletic scholarships only for their D-I men's and women's sports. Five of them are schools that traditionally competed at the highest level of a particular men's sport prior to the institution of
1290-579: The passage of the "Dayton Rule" (named after the University of Dayton , whose success in D-III football was seen as threatening the "ethos" of Division III sports). This led directly to the creation of the Pioneer Football League , a non-scholarship football-only Division I FCS conference. In addition to the D-III schools with teams that play as D-I members, many other D-III schools have teams that compete alongside D-I and D-II members in sports that
1333-532: The president of Swarthmore College saying at the time, "We not only have the Ivy League, and the pretty clearly understood though seldom mentioned gradations within the Ivy League, but we have the Little Ivy League, and the jockeying for position within that." Among the Little Ivies are the " Little Three ", a term used by Amherst College , Wesleyan University and Williams College , and " Maine Big Three ",
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1376-459: The resources of the major athletic programs across the country. The College Division split again in 1973 when the NCAA went to its current naming convention: Division I , Division II , and Division III. D-III schools are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships, while D-II schools can. D-III is the NCAA's largest division with around 450 member institutions, which are 80% private and 20% public. The median undergraduate enrollment of D-III schools
1419-489: The same in 2014. Hartwick College , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer and women's water polo, moved its men's soccer program to D-III in 2018 and dropped women's water polo entirely. The other five schools chose to field D-I programs in one sport for men and/or one sport for women after the original grandfather clause went into effect, so they were not grandfathered and thus were not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Academic-based and need-based financial aid
1462-468: The same treatment, a full scholarship. Another aspect that distinguishes D-III from the other NCAA divisions is that D-III institutions are specifically banned from using the National Letter of Intent , or any other pre-enrollment form that is not executed by other prospective students at the school. The NCAA provides for one exception—a standard, nonbinding celebratory signing form that may be signed by
1505-752: The scope of NCAA competition , including women's AIAW championships . The following is a list of NCAA-recognized national team championships by NESCAC schools. Baseball (1): Men's basketball (3): Women's basketball (3): Men's cross country (2): Women's cross country (10): Field hockey (10): Women's golf (1): Men's ice hockey (9): Women's ice hockey (5): Men's lacrosse (7): Women's lacrosse (10): Women's rowing (15) Men's soccer (7): Women's soccer (3): Softball (3): Women's swimming & diving (2): Men's tennis (10): Women's tennis (12): Women's indoor track (2): NCAA Division III NCAA Division III ( D-III )
1548-474: The sponsorship requirements for that sex. There are minimum contest rules and participant minimums for each sport. D-III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department. They feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability. Student-athletes cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose
1591-487: The student body". The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. As an example of how seriously the NCAA takes this rule, in 2005 MacMurray College became only the fifth school slapped with a " death penalty " after its men's tennis program gave grants to foreign-born players. The two service academies that are D-III members, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard , do not violate the athletic scholarship ban because all students, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive
1634-432: The student upon his or her acceptance of enrollment. However, this form cannot be signed at the campus of that college, and staff members of that college cannot be present at the signing. An "all-sports conference" is defined here as one that sponsors both men's and women's basketball. While the NCAA has a much more detailed definition of the term, every NCAA conference (regardless of division) that sponsors basketball meets
1677-801: The three division classifications in 1973, a decade before the NCAA governed women's sports. These five colleges (plus three others that later chose to return their D-I programs to D-III) were granted a waiver (a.k.a. a grandfather clause ) in 1983 to continue offering scholarships, a waiver that was reaffirmed in 2004. Presumably due to Title IX considerations, grandfathered schools are also allowed to field one women's sport in D-I, and all five schools choose to do so. Three formerly grandfathered schools moved completely to D-III. The State University of New York at Oneonta , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer, moved totally to D-II in 2006. Rutgers University–Newark , which had been grandfathered in men's volleyball, did
1720-433: The total number of required sports varies with each school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or less must sponsor five men's and five women's sports; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six for each sex/gender. Institutions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender (single-sex schools, plus a few historically all-female schools that are now coeducational) need only meet
1763-493: The world. As of the 2021-2022 academic year, Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts , has the largest endowment of any college in the conference, followed closely by Amherst, and then Bowdoin and Tufts respectively. Admission to NESCAC institutions is often highly competitive, with most member schools touting acceptance rates lower than 15 percent as of the 2020-2021 admissions cycle. Many NESCAC schools are also some of
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1806-546: Was essentially a caste system based on socioeconomic status as perceived by students." Bates rejected the fraternity system in 1855, when it was founded. Colby disbanded its fraternities and sororities in 1984. At Bowdoin, fraternities were phased out in 2000. Despite the lack of Greek life, NESCAC schools are widely known for a prominent drinking culture . Schools within the NESCAC conference have made institutional efforts to diversify student body, and attract and wide range of students to their institutions. Many schools in
1849-414: Was still available, as is the case for all of D-III. In addition, Lawrence University was formerly a non-grandfathered program in fencing, but the NCAA no longer conducts a separate D-I fencing championship. Lawrence continues to field a fencing team, but that team is now considered D-III (see below ). In August 2011, the NCAA decided to no longer allow individual programs to move to another division as
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