Southern Ivy

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Southern Ivyis an informal term, and not an official body, that has been used in theU.S.to compare Southern universities to the schools of the northeasternIvy Leaguein some way, usually in academic quality or in social prestige. The "Southern Ivy League," referred to as the "Magnolia League", was also a failed attempt to construct an athletic conference with schools that had similar "academic missions and philosophies". Given that the term is colloquial, there is no comprehensive, objective or definitive list of schools that are considered "Southern Ivies".

The effort to create a Southern athletic conference originated during the 1950s.Harvie Branscomb, then-chancellor atVanderbilt University, originally attempted to establish a rivalry between Vanderbilt and traditional Ivy League schools to foster relationships with academically-oriented schools. The school followed through on this effort and played a game againstYalein October 1948. However, after the Vanderbilt Commodores shut out the Yale Bulldogs, 35-0, Yale said they no longer wanted to play Vanderbilt. This caused Branscomb to call a meeting with the presidents of other Southern private universities in the late 1950s—Southern Methodist University(SMU),Emory University,Rice University,^[1][2]Duke UniversityandTulane University— where Branscomb suggested they try to establish a new sports conference where small, academically-inclined private schools could compete.^[3]

In the early 1960s, the idea for the "Magnolia Conference" gained popularity. In 1963, Tulane was frustrated by its level of competition within theSoutheastern Conferencesince many of the schools had lower academic expectations for football players. They considered withdrawing from the SEC to compete with schools with similar aims.^[4]According to theRice Thresher, the era was a time when "the academic disparity between show-me-the-money schools and the schools less inclined to compromise academics was just beginning to become more evident."^{[citation needed]}The "Magnolia Conference" had the vision to "maintain high-endDivision Ibudgets and schedules, while avoiding some of the crasser extremes of the big business of college sports".^{[citation needed]}However, this "Southern Ivy League" never got off the ground. Duke did not want to give upits rivalrywith theUniversity of North Carolina, and SMU and Rice were not willing to give up their shares of revenue flowing from the then-lucrativeCotton Bowl Classicbecause of its tie-in with theSouthwest Conference.^[3]

• Greene, Howard; Greene, Mathew W. (2000).Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning: The Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence. New York:HarperCollins.ISBN0-06-095362-4.