User:Epickerill/Ivy League

Race and ethnicity
Note: Not all totals add to 100% due to rounding.

Race and ethnicity
Notes: Not all totals add to 100 due to rounding and some schools had an "international" grouping and was omitted as other schools did not have this grouping, Brown and Columbia only had general data, Percentages that are italicized are combined with another group, Some schools had an "international" grouping and was omitted as other schools did not have this grouping

Racial segregation and integration
Ivy League institutions have a long and complicated history of racial segregation, and, eventually, integration. All of the universities in the Ivy League, excluding Cornell University, were chartered during the American era of slavery. In 2003, Brown University was the first of all the Ivies to take accountability for their historic ties to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

Following Brown, other universities in the Ivy League created committees to examine their own ties to slavery. Their reports have since found various economic and social ties to slavery. Yale University for example, used profits from slave traders and owners to fund its first scholarships, libraries, and faculty members. To date, some of Yale’s residential colleges are also named after slave traders and supporters.

Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania’s investigations all found that, in the century following their charters, enslaved Black people lived on campus to care for students, professors, and/or the university’s presidents. Notably, Princeton’s first nine presidents were slave owners, and in 1766, a slave auction reportedly took place on Princeton’s campus.

While the Ivy League has a history of slavery, a small number of Black people did attend Ivy League institutions as students during their early years, which paved the way for more students of color to attend in the future.

19th and early 20th centuries

Ivy League universities admitted few students of color in their early years. Each university in the League had different policies regarding the admission of Black students- Dartmouth for example had their first Black graduate in 1828, while Princeton would not admit their first Black student until well into the 1900s.

Early Black admits to Ivy League universities were controversial, and faced backlash from students and administrators alike. Dartmouth's first Black graduate, Edward Mitchell, was initially denied admission out of fear of "offend[ing] students." Dartmouth students protested this decision, leading to Mitchell's admission in 1824. Harvard admitted its first Black student, Beverly Garnett Williams, in 1847. News of this incited protests by Harvard students and faculty. Unfortunately, Williams died before the academic year had begun and was never able to attend the prestigious university. It would not be not until 1870 when Richard Theodore Greener became the first African American to receive a degree from Harvard.

Although there were no official policies that could prohibit the Ivy League from admitting students of color, most Ivies would accept greater numbers of Black students in the later decades of the 19th century. Due to the lack of official policy, it was left to university administrations to determine their own rates of integration. Princeton University, often referred to as the “Southernmost Ivy,” was the last to integrate from the eight, and responsible for revoking a Black students admittance when his race was revealed in the 1930’s.

At the time of its charter, Cornell seemed to be the most progressive of the Ivy League institutions, with an inclusive admissions policy accepting students “regardless of race or gender.” Cornell University also had the highest Black student population compared to other Ivy League universities at that time. Despite this, however, Black students still faced legal and social segregation in the town of Ithaca, New York. In 1905, Black students reported being denied housing while attending Cornell.

Similarly, between the years 1890 and 1940, an average of three Black men enrolled at Harvard per year. In 1923, Harvard’s Board of Overseers overruled University President, Abbot Lawrence’s ban on Black students living in dorms, announcing that all freshmen would be permitted to live in the dorms, regardless of race. This, however, did not end segregation at Harvard. The Board of Overseers upheld that although Black students were able to live in the dorms, “men of the white and colored races shall not be compelled to live and eat together."

Early on, the few Black students admitted to Ivy League universities were mostly from wealthy Caribbean families. Barriers preventing African American students from attending Ivy League universities included their location in the Northeast, the cost of tuition, and the lack of quality secondary education opportunities in a racially segregated country. As a result, there was a fairly small number of Black students attending and graduating from the eight Ivy League institutions. In fact, more Black students were attending the elite Ivy League graduate and professional schools compared to their undergraduate programs.

By the middle of the 20th century, only 54 Black men and women had graduated with a Bachelor degree from Ivy League universities. All eight Ivy League institutions remained exclusive at this point.

Late 20th century

The middle of the 1900s marked a turning point for racial integration on Ivy League campuses, with many schools responding to World War II era programs and pushes from the ongoing Civil Rights Movement.

After the introduction of the V-12 Navy College Training Program in 1942, all eight Ivy institutions saw increased numbers of Black student enrollment. For Princeton University, which had one of the more conservative policies regarding Black student admission, this program marked the first time Black students were able to receive bachelor’s degrees from Princeton. While a small number of Black students were recorded taking courses at Princeton as early as 1774, none received degrees until the introduction of the V-12 Program.

With no universal goal for integration by the institutions as a collective, each school experienced increased racial diversity at different rates, with Dartmouth having 120 Black undergraduates in the class of 1945 and Princeton having a cumulative total of less than 100 Black undergraduates by 1967.

Despite the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, private universities like those making up the Ivy League were not legally required to abide by the ruling. It wasn't until the 1976 decision in Runyon v. McCrary that private institutions became legally prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race. But, by the early 1960s, admissions offices across the Ivy League began to make concentrated efforts to increase the number of Black applicants to their universities, rolling out initiatives that actively sought Black talent from high schools. Efforts for racial integration at Ivy League institutions relied on the support of student organizations and faculty-led initiatives to seek prospective Black students, such as the work of the Citizenship Council at Columbia University, which sought to show Black students that they would be welcome on campus. These efforts also prompted internal University action, such as the creation of Cornell's Committee on Special Educational Projects (COSEP), an organization aimed to recruit and support Black students. By 1965, however, Black students would still only make up 2% of admitted students across all the Ivies.

Prior to the 1960s, the majority of Ivy League universities explicitly prohibited the admission of women, instead forming partnerships with nearby women's colleges. As such, Black women were not able to attend Ivy League universities until they changed their policies to accept women. Lillian Lincoln Lambert was the first Black woman to receive a degree from an Ivy League university after graduating with a master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1969. Lincoln Lambert was also a founding member of Harvard's African American Student Union, which according to her, actively recruited Black students and created "a space where Black students could find not only support but resources for everything from barber shops that cut Black hair to churches."

As Black student populations began to increase at Ivy League schools, on campus activism saw an increase in the wake of the ongoing Civil Rights Movement. Black students at each Ivy League institution took their own avenues to making change. In 1969, students in Cornell's Afro-American Society led an armed occupation of Willard Straight Hall to protest the university’s racist policies and “its slow progress in establishing a Black studies program.” In the same year, students associated with Yale’s New Left organization, Students for a Democratic Society worked closely with the New Haven Black Panthers to lead sit-ins and protests that advocated for the admission of more students of color and the establishment of an African American studies department.

At Brown University, identity based student organizations such as the United African People and the African American Society called for an increase to the number of Black faculty and increased attention to the needs of Black students. Likewise, demonstrations at Harvard and Columbia took the form of occupations and non-violent sit-ins that were often subject to forceful removal by local police, whom administrators would call. Activism at Dartmouth took a different shape during this time period, as students would use demonstrations that were happening at other Ivies, and colleges around the country, to effectively position their demands for progress within the prospect of taking actions similar to those happening elsewhere.

21st century

Similar to the late 20th century, the number of Black students on Ivy League campuses also increased in the 21st century. From 2006 to 2018, there was an approximated 50% increase in the admission of Black students into the entering class, growing from 1,110 to 1,663. As of 2018, the universities comprising the Ivy League unanimously support Harvard University’s “race-conscious admissions” model. This form of affirmative action was described by Harvard University representatives as one of the factors increasing campus diversity.

In recent years, there have been counters to this admissions model, as others have interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment, the basis on which Harvard’s “race-conscious admissions” model is set, as forbidding the consideration of race in higher education admissions. Institutions in favor of Harvard's model argue that in addition to academic excellence they also aim to form a diverse student body while individuals that argue against the model stating that it is discriminatory against certain applicants.

The addition of more Black students to Ivy League universities in the early 2000s was also accompanied by an increase in the number of Black faculty at these institutions. However, the increase in Black faculty has not been as strong as the increase in Black students. In 2005, 588– or about 3.9%– of the Ivy’s 14,831 full time faculty members were Black. This proportion decreased to 3.4% in 2015. Notably, in 2001, Ruth J. Simmons became the president of Brown University, making her the first and only African American to lead an Ivy League institution.

The 21st century saw the continuation of demonstrations by Ivy League students revolving around race. Many of these demonstrations have sought to continue the work of their 20th century predecessors by advocating for increased admission and support of Black students. In light of the Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College Supreme Court case, students from Yale and Harvard joined other universities in protesting in defense of race-conscious admissions policies.

Likewise, Black students from Ivy League institutions continue to protest for the betterment of Black students' lives on campus and beyond. Following Michael Brown's death in 2014, students across the Ivies formed the Black Ivy Coalition, which included members from all eight institutions and aimed to combat anti-Black racism. Individual Ivy League universities also formed their own advocacy organizations and movements as a direct response to instances of anti-Black violence. After the murder of Michael Brown, Princeton University students formed the Black Justice League, which in 2015 occupied Nassau Hall and presented a list of demands to university administrators. Similarly, in 2017, Cornell students made demands to their administration protesting the assault of a Black student. Led by Black Students United, the demands included banning the Psi Upsilon fraternity for hate crimes, implementing implicit bias training, and introducing policies to increase the number of Black students at the university.

Student demonstrations have also focused on sparking change beyond Ivy League campuses. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Harvard’s Black Law Students Association, beyond calling for more Black faculty, critical race theory curriculum, and protection for student protestors, also called on the university to divest from prisons and denounce state-sanctioned violence.

In response to racially charged incidents across the country and prompting from student activists, Ivy League universities have removed and renamed campus landmarks. In response to the 2016 Black Lives Matter protests, Cornell renamed their botanical gardens, previously called the "Cornell Plantations," to the "Cornell Botanical Gardens." Similarly, in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Princeton University removed Woodrow Wilson’s name from a residential college and the School of Public and International Affairs because of his “racist thinking and policies.”

History of the athletic league
-- put after the 19th and 20th centuries section

Breaking the color barrier
The integration of sports followed a similar pattern to the overall integration of the Ivy League's in the 19th and early 20th century. There was no active policy that would discriminate against incorporating Black student athletes into the athletic coalition. Harvard has the earliest record of breaking the color barrier in athletics after recruiting William Henry Lewis to their football team in 1892. Dartmouth followed suit, with Black athletes integrating onto their football teams in 1904. Brown integrated their football team shortly after, in 1916. Cornell would follow suit in 1937. University of Penn had Black students on their track and field team as early as 1908. Columbia's track and field team would be integrated in 1934. Basketball would become integrated at Yale in 1926, at Princeton in 1947.

Activism within athletics
Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the Ivy League Conference committed itself to uphold "diversity, equity, and inclusion," to combat racism and homophobia. At Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton there are Black Student Athlete groups and other affinity groups that are dedicated to ensuring their organizations are committed to anti-racism and anti-homophobia.

Fashion and lifestyle
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Though the Ivy League style is most commonly associated with the white, male elites that historically made up Ivy League campuses, the style was quickly popularized among Black communities during the civil rights era. Reinterpretations of this style by African-American men in the 1950s and 1960s combined the preppy Ivy League style with other popular Black styles of dress. This led to the emergence of a new style of dress, the Black Ivy style.

Today, these styles continue to be popular on Ivy League campuses, throughout the U.S., and abroad, and are oftentimes labeled as "Classic American style" or "Traditional American style".

The birth of Black Greek Life
Cornell University is home to Alpha Phi Alpha, founded on December 4th, 1906 as the first Greek letter fraternity for African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha was founded by Charles Cardoza Poindexter as a place for Black students to gather to have literary discussions and social functions. With over 730 chapters world wide, Alpha Phi Alpha is the largest predominately African American fraternity. Some of the most notable alumni of Alpha Phi Alpha include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglas, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Cornel West, and Duke Ellington. Members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity continue to go on as trailblazers for the mission of leadership and service to others.

Black Greek Life Today
Across Ivy League Universities today, Black greek life membership has largely been limited by the amount of black students at Ivy League schools. The University of Pennsylvania is currently home to Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, and Alpha Phi Alpha, all of which are not exclusively open to students at the University of Pennsylvania but are open to black students from the Philadelphia area Universities of Drexel, Villanova, La Salle and St. Joseph's. Combining the black student populations at each of these universities has allowed these greek life organizations to increase membership and streamline organizational activities. Similar to the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard's only university recognized greek life organizations are the black fraternity of Alpha Phi Alpha and the sorority of Alpha Kappa Alpha are open city wide to the Boston area universities of MIT and Tufts. Yale is home to Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Sigma Theta, which also are open to the greater New Heaven area as well. Black greek life at Ivy league schools is present today, but relies surrounding universities to boost membership and assist organizational operations.

Other Ivies
The term Ivy is sometimes used to connote a positive comparison to or an association with the Ivy League, often along academic lines. The term has been used to describe the Little Ivies, a grouping of small liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States. Other common uses include the Public Ivies, the Hidden Ivies, the Southern Ivies, and the Black Ivies.