Ivy League Group Agreement to all intercollegiate sports, effective with the 1955–56 basketball season. This is generally reckoned as the formal formation of the Ivy League. As part of the transition, Brown, the only Ivy that hadn't joined the EIBL, did so for the 1954–55 season. A year later, the Ivy League absorbed the EIBL. The Ivy League claims the EIBL's history as its own. Through the EIBL, it is the oldest basketball conference in Division I. As late as the 1960s many of the Ivy League universities' undergraduate programs remained open only to men, with Cornell the only one to have
Ivy League These counterparts are often referred to in the American media as the "Ivy League" of their respective nations. Additionally, groupings of schools use the "Ivy" nomenclature to denote a perceived comparability, such as American liberal arts colleges (Little Ivies), lesser known schools (Hidden Ivies), public universities (Public Ivies), and schools in the Southern United States (Southern Ivies). Ivy League universities have some of the largest university financial endowments in the world, which allows the universities to provide many resources for their academic programs and research endeavors. , Harvard University has an endowment of $37.1 billion, the highest of any US