Ivy League Schools

 

Ivy League Schools
by Rob Cottignies

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!

…

LOCATION
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 13^th, 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!

 

SOURCES:
google.com, wikipedia.org, brown.edu, columbia.edu, cornell.edu, dartmouth.edu, upenn.edu, yale.edu, admitsee.com, harvard.edu, princeton.edu