<P> A proportion of our eastern ivy colleges are meeting little fellows another Saturday before plunging into the strife and the turmoil . </P> <P> The first known instance of the term Ivy League being used appeared in The Christian Science Monitor on February 7, 1935 . Several sportswriters and other journalists used the term shortly later to refer to the older colleges, those along the northeastern seaboard of the United States, chiefly the nine institutions with origins dating from the colonial era, together with the United States Military Academy (West Point), the United States Naval Academy, and a few others . These schools were known for their long - standing traditions in intercollegiate athletics, often being the first schools to participate in such activities . However, at this time, none of these institutions made efforts to form an athletic league . </P> <P> A common folk etymology attributes the name to the Roman numeral for four (IV), asserting that there was such a sports league originally with four members . The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins helped to perpetuate this belief . The supposed "IV League" was formed over a century ago and consisted of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and a fourth school that varies depending on who is telling the story . However, it is clear that Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia met on November 23, 1876 at the so - called Massasoit Convention to decide on uniform rules for the emerging game of American football, which rapidly spread . </P> <P> Seven out of the eight Ivy League schools were founded before the American Revolution; Cornell was founded just after the American Civil War . These seven were the primary colleges in the Northern and Middle Colonies, and their early faculties and founding boards were largely drawn from other Ivy League institutions . There were also some British graduates from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of St. Andrews, the University of Edinburgh, and elsewhere on their boards . Similarly, the founder of The College of William & Mary, in 1693, was a British graduate of the University of Edinburgh . Cornell provided Stanford University with its first president . </P>

What are the four original ivy league schools