The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) is a

college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges ...

that operates in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools that are located in

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and organized into nine athletic programs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer are combined teams for sports purposes. The SCIAC currently sponsors men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, women's volleyball and men's and women's water polo.

History

A forerunner conference to the SCIAC was the Intercollegiate Football Association of Southern California, which existed in the 1890s. It included Occidental, Caltech (then called Throop Polytechnic),

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Chaffey College Chaffey College is a public community college in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The college serves students in Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland. It is the oldest community college in California. History ...

and

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest Public education#United States, public high school in the Southern California, Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are ...

. The SCIAC was founded in 1915 with five member schools with the goals to promote amateurism in athletics. The five founding members, all of whom are still members, are Throop College of Technology (now California Institute of Technology),

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

, and

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

. Although all five original charter members are still affiliated with the SCIAC, only two, Occidental and Redlands, have had uninterrupted membership. The acronym SCIAC (standing for Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Council) was in use during 1913 and 1914 until that organization became the

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF ...

. On May 12, 2011, the SCIAC announced that

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

would become the ninth member, beginning with the 2011–12 academic year. The addition of Chapman marks the first expansion of the conference since

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...

joined in 1991. At one time, most of the colleges were the southern California affiliates of various Christian sects such as the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

and the

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. Today, only California Lutheran University maintains an affiliation with a church. There are three former members of the SCIAC:

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

and

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

. All former members now compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

athletics.

Chronological timeline

* 1915 - The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) was founded. Charter members included

, the

, Throop College of Technology (now California Institute of Technology) and

, effective beginning the 1915-16 academic year. * 1920 - The

Southern Branch of the University of California The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(now the University of California at Los Angeles, or UCLA) joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1920-21 academic year. * 1926 - La Verne College (now the University of La Verne) and San Diego State Teachers College (now San Diego State University) joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1926-27 academic year. * 1927 - UCLA left the SCIAC, effective after the 1926-27 academic year. * 1931 - Santa Barbara State College (now the University of California at Santa Barbara) joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1931-32 academic year. * 1934 - Caltech and Pomona left the SCIAC, effective after the 1933-34 academic year. * 1938 - La Verne and UC Santa Barbara left the SCIAC, effective after the 1937-38 academic year * 1938 - Caltech and Pomona re-joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1938-39 academic year. * 1939 - San Diego State left the SCIAC, effective after the 1938-39 academic year. * 1943 - Whittier left the SCIAC, effective after the 1942-43 academic year. * 1946 - Whittier re-joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1946-47 academic year. * 1947 - Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College) joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1947-48 academic year. * 1950 -

Chapman College Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scien ...

(now Chapman University) joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1950-51 academic year. * 1952 - Chapman left the SCIAC, effective after the 1951-52 academic year. * 1958 - Claremont combined with

Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...

for athletics to become Claremont–Mudd, effective in the 1958-59 academic year. * 1971 - Pomona combined with

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

for athletics to become Pomona–Pitzer, while La Verne re-joined back to the SCIAC, both effective in the 1971-72 academic year. * 1976 - Claremont–Mudd combined with

Scripps College Scripps College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1 ...

for athletics to become Claremont–Mudd–Scripps, effective in the 1976-77 academic year. * 1991 -

joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1991-92 academic year. * 2011 - Chapman re-joined back to the SCIAC, effective in the 2011-12 academic year. * 2020 - Occidental dropped its football program before the start of the 2020 fall season (2020-21 academic year). * 2023 - Whittier dropped its football program after the 2022 fall season (2022-23 academic year).

Member schools

Current member schools

The SCIAC currently has nine full members, all are

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

schools: ;Notes:

Former member schools

The SCIAC had three former full members, all were

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1915 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:yellow from:1915 till:1934 text:

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

(1915–1934) bar:1 color:yellow from:1938 till:end text:

(1938–present) bar:2 color:yellow from:1915 till:end text: Occidental (1915–present) bar:4 color:yellow from:1915 till:1934 text: Pomona (1915–1934) bar:4 color:yellow from:1938 till:1971 text: Pomona (1938–1971) bar:4 color:yellow from:1971 till:end text: Pomona-Pitzer (1971–present) bar:5 color:yellow from:1915 till:end text: Redlands (1915–present) bar:6 color:yellow from:1915 till:1943 text: Whittier (1915–1943) bar:6 color:yellow from:1946 till:end text: Whittier (1946–present) bar:7 color:yellow from:1920 till:1927 text:

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(1920–1927) bar:8 color:yellow from:1926 till:1939 text:

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

(1926–1939) bar:9 color:yellow from:1926 till:1938 text: La Verne (1926–1938) bar:9 color:yellow from:1971 till:end text: La Verne (1971–present) bar:10 color:yellow from:1931 till:1938 text:

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

(1931–1938) bar:11 color:yellow from:1947 till:1962 text: Claremont (1947–1958) bar:11 color:yellow from:1962 till:1981 text: Claremont-Mudd (1958–1976) bar:11 color:yellow from:1981 till:end text: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (1976–present) bar:12 color:yellow from:1950 till:1952 text: Chapman (1950–1952) bar:12 shift:(-10) color:yellow from:2011 till:end text: Chapman (2011–present) bar:13 color:yellow from:1991 till:end text: Cal Lutheran (1991–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1915 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"SCIAC membership history"

All-sports champions

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division III football conference navbox