William & Mary/Rutgers and the Ivy League

[snopes]

Comment: Hello,

There has been much talks and rumors about Rutgers (and William and Mary)
turning doing the Ivy League invite in the past.

Below is a post that I found of interest:

"Frankly, the story does not make much sense. Both Rutgers and William &
Mary (my wife, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I are W&M grads and my
son is a current student) are currently, and were at the time the Ivy
League was founded, public institutions and it is unlikely they would have
been invited. For one thing, their reliance on state support would have
made it impossible for them to go private and the Ivy League would not
have wanted to hurt its yield by offering them admission only to be turned
down. See? The Ivy League has been gaming the system right from the
beginning.

Seriously, though, the myth seems based on W&M and Rutgers being two of
the nine Colonial Colleges - those founded before the American Revolution.
The other seven are all Ivies, so this common history could very easily be
the tiny seed of truth that often gives rise to an urban legend. Tie into
that that Rutgers and Princeton played what is considered to be the first
intercollegiate football game, and that Rutgers and William & Mary often
play non-league games with the Ivies, and you have yourselves an urban
legend.

[snopes]

Comment: Have you ever heard the story that Rutgers University was invited
into the Ivy League years ago but turned down the offer? Everyone at
Rutgers swears it's true but I just read comments on other sites in which
people called it bogus.

There's even a supposed quote from the Star Ledger. "Rutgers University is
inarguably America's cockiest, smartest party school. The only school in
history who rejected their Ivy League invitation". However, I could never
find the story it was taken from.