NEW ENGLAND SMALL COLLEGE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE: THE IVY LEAGUE’S SIBLING CONFERENCE OF LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is the association body that oversees inter-varsity sports competitions between an extremely select group of highly prestigious private liberal arts colleges in the Northeast United States. The conference is often, endearingly, referred to as the little Ivy League – a reference to the more famous athletics league comprised of some of the top-tier research universities in the United States with similar admissions policies.

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ABOUT

NESCAC was founded in 1971 building upon the foundations established between many of the member colleges who have competed as peer schools going back to the late 1800s. In so doing, the conference effectively absorbed: the Triangular League – a three-way football championship between Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams that dates back to 1899; a sports conference agreement between the Triangular League schools and Bowdoin College signed in 1955; and the CBB Consortium (AKA Maine Big Three) – a three-way competition between Bates, Bowdoin and Colby. These smaller conferences and rivalries still exist within NESCAC today.

Similar to other, higher profile leagues (owing to the size of the respective colleges and their competing in higher NCAA divisions) such as the Ivy League and Patriot League, the New England Small College Athletic Conference was developed in response to concerns about the direction in which collegiate sports was headed. Specifically, the presidents and senior faculty were disturbed by the rise in sports scholarships at the expense of academic excellence that had transformed the athletic programmes at various colleges and universities across the country. In so doing, many have allowed for their athletics programmes to define their identity rather than academic study and research output. The member institutions of NESCAC have long-been amongst the most highly-selective and academically rigorous colleges in the United States, if not the world and actively sought to preserve that identity.

As such, NESCAC member schools adhere to a policy of refusing financial support on the basis of athletic prowess and requiring that those who participate in college sports must meet the high academic standards of the school.

The conference has remained largely unchanged since its’ foundation by members: Amherst College; Bates; Bowdoin; Colby; Hamilton; Middlebury; Trinity College; Tufts University; Wesleyan University; Williams College; and Union College. Union left in the early 1970s and was replaced by Connecticut College with no other changes to membership since.

The conference is classified as an NCAA Division III conference and sponsors a range of sports for men and women including: Baseball; Basketball; Cross Country; Football (American); Golf; Hockey (Field); Ice Hockey; Lacrosse; Rowing (Crew); Soccer (Association Football); Softball; Squash; Swimming & Diving; Tennis; Track & Field (Athletics); and Volleyball. Many of the members previously competed in the ECAC Hockey league against luminaries in the Ivy League and Patriot League.

Whilst NESCAC is an athletics conference, it’s name has often been used as a means of collectively referring to the member colleges for the purposes of discussing that set of elite New England private liberal arts colleges that have often been considered to be the bastions of social and academic exclusivity. In this respect, the NESCAC colleges are often regarded as peer schools to the equally exclusive Ivy League colleges and Seven Sisters women’s colleges of the northeast United States. Often, the term “Ivy League” when used as a term to connote prestige and a shared culture is extended to include and be applied to the NESCAC colleges. Indeed, cooperation and competition between these institutions has long taken place, informally and through formal arrangements such as the Five Colleges Consoritum and 12 Colleges program. The common descriptive moniker “Little Ivies”, used to denote alternative schools that are considered similar to the Ivy League colleges, is almost always applied to the NESCAC schools. Many of the NESCAC colleges participate in initiatives under the umbrella of the Ivy Plus Consortium, including the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium and the Ivy Plus Writing Consortium.

For more information about the New England Small College Athletic Conference, for upcoming fixtures or previous results, please visit the NESCAC website.

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MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

FORMER MEMBERS OR ASSOCIATES

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