You may have heard of the Ivy League and possibly went
to one of its schools in the way that you can be ‘just visiting’ Jail in
Monopoly.
But what exactly is the Ivy League?
Officially known as the Council of Ivy Group
Presidents, the Ivy League refers to a group of eight schools in the
northeastern United States. They are very difficult to get into and are often
seen as the most elite American schools, though Stanford, Duke, and many other academies would argue.
One hypothesis for the name of the ‘league’ traces
back to the 1890s, when Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Pennsylvania formed an
alliance. A newspaper article referred to the bunch as the IV League, with ‘IV’
meaning the Roman numeral 4.
A more probable idea points to a journalist named
Stanley Woodward, who referred to the schools as ‘the ivy colleges’ in a 1933
article, simply because older institutions often had buildings painted in ivy
green.
Regardless of its origin, what is now known as the Ivy
League was established in 1954. Below is a list of the eight schools and bits
of information about them.
Enjoy!
…
Providence, Rhode Island
ESTABLISHED
1764
as the College of Rhode Island; renamed in 1804
ETYMOLOGY
Nicholas
Brown: alumnus, major donor
TEAM
NAME
Bears,
represented by the mascot Bruno
TRIVIA
Each
Friday the 13th, Brown students celebrate Josiah Carberry, a
fictional professor of psychoceramics (study of cracked pots) who was invented
in 1929
LOCATION
New
York City, New York
ESTABLISHED
1754
as King’s College; renamed in 1784
ETYMOLOGY
Christopher
Columbus
TEAM
NAME
Lions,
represented by the mascot Roar-ee
TRIVIA
Columbia
played in the first-ever televised sporting event – a baseball game against
Princeton in 1939
LOCATION
Ithaca,
New York
ESTABLISHED
1865
ETYMOLOGY
Ezra
Cornell: Co-founder of the university, Senator, founder of Western Union
TEAM
NAME
Big
Red, represented by a bear though the school has no official mascot
TRIVIA
Every March brings Dragon Day at Cornell, when first-year architecture students
create a huge dragon, which is paraded around campus before “battling” a giant
phoenix (created by engineering students) and being set on fire
LOCATION
Hanover,
New Hampshire
ESTABLISHED
1769
ETYMOLOGY
William
Legge: second Earl of Dartmouth, important British politician
TEAM
NAME
Big
Green, represented by the unofficial mascot Keggy the Keg (as in beer keg)
TRIVIA
Alumni
include Dr. Seuss, Mr. Rogers, Chris Miller (writer of Animal House), Nelson
Rockefeller, former Secretary of State Daniel Webster, poet Robert Frost,
actress Mindy Kaling, and Meryl Streep
LOCATION
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
ESTABLISHED
1636
as New College (to educate clergy); renamed in 1639
ETYMOLOGY
Reverend
John Harvard: minister, first major donor to the school
TEAM
NAME
Crimson,
represented by the mascot John Harvard, a Pilgrim
TRIVIA
Harvard’s
Statue of Three Lies is a tribute to when John Harvard founded the school in
1638, though the government founded the school in 1636 and the person depicted
is not John Harvard
LOCATION
Princeton,
New Jersey
ESTABLISHED
1746
as the College of New Jersey; renamed in 1896
ETYMOLOGY
The
town of Princeton, originally named Prince-Town to honor Prince William of
Orange
TEAM
NAME
Tigers,
represented by a tiger mascot
TRIVIA
Eleven
“eating clubs” – dining/social establishments – are near Princeton, some with
selective interview and acceptance processes.
LOCATION
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
ESTABLISHED
1740
as [an unnamed charity school]; renamed in 1791
https://www.britannica.com/topic/charity-school
ETYMOLOGY
The
state of Pennsylvania, named for famed Quaker William Penn; Benjamin Franklin
was a co-founder of the school
TEAM
NAME
Quakers,
represented by a Quaker mascot
TRIVIA
U
Penn created the first leisure computer in 1946
LOCATION
New
Haven, Connecticut
ESTABLISHED
1701
as the Collegiate School; renamed in 1718
ETYMOLOGY
Elihu
Yale: Welsh merchant, first major donor to the school
TEAM
NAME
Bulldogs,
represented by real-life English bulldog Handsome Dan
TRIVIA
Yale
holds the Voynich Manuscript, a book dating to the 1400s written by an unidentified
author in an unknown language (or code) which has never been deciphered
...
There you have the basics. Now, get studying!
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