Black Ivy League in each of its institutions, including faculty holding endowed professorships, head athletic coaches, deans, and one president, Ruth Simmons (Dillard graduate) of Brown University. From 1967 to 1976, black enrollment in Ivy League colleges rose from 2.3% to 6.3%. In addition, Ivy League alumni who are African-American have formed the Black Ivy Alumni League, as well as separate black alumni groups for each individual university. The Black Ivy Alumni League notes that "over 50,000 alumni of African descent connected through our Ivy League experiences." African Americans who earned undergraduate degrees at Ivy League schools include President Barack Obama; his wife,
Black Ivy League First Lady Michelle Obama; college basketball coaches Craig Robinson (also Michelle Obama's brother) and John Thompson III; and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas earned his bachelor's degree at a non-Ivy school, but earned his J.D. at Yale Law School. In 2004, the Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University sponsored an academic conference entitled "Growing Black Ivy" which drew 200 scholars to discuss black participation at elite Ivy League institutions. Competition for top students have grown more intense. For example, Cornell announced a change in its financial aid