Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference


The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools that are located in Southern California 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, USC, Chaffey College and Los Angeles High School.
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 California Institute of Technology, Occidental College, Pomona College, the University of Redlands, and Whittier College. Although all five original charter members are still affiliated with the SCIAC, only two, Occidental and Redlands, have had uninterrupted membership. The acronym SCIAC was in use during 1913 and 1914 until that organization became the CIF Southern Section.
On May 12, 2011, the SCIAC announced that Chapman University 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 joined in 1991. At one time, most of the colleges were the Southern California affiliates of various Christian sects such as the Quakers and the Presbyterians. Today, only California Lutheran University maintains an affiliation with a church.
There are three former members of the SCIAC: University of California, Los Angeles, San Diego State University and University of California, Santa Barbara. All former members now compete in NCAA Division I athletics.

Member schools

Current member schools

The member schools are:
InstitutionMembershipLocation
FoundedTypeEnrollmentNickname
California Institute of Technology1915-16 to 1933-34;
1938-39 to present		Pasadena1891Private2,086Beavers
California Lutheran University1991-92 to presentThousand Oaks1959Lutheran3,298Kingsmen
Regals
Chapman University1950-51 to 1951-52;
2011-12 to present		Orange1861Private
6,398Panthers
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
—Claremont McKenna College
—Harvey Mudd College
—Scripps College		1976-77 to present
1947-48 to present
1958-59 to present
1976-77 to present		Claremont
1946
1955
1926		Private
1,328
746
878		Stags
:Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas|Athenas
University of La Verne1926-27 to 1937-38,
1971-72 to present		La Verne1891Private
1,685Leopards
Occidental College1915-16 to presentLos Angeles1887Private
1,839Tigers
Pomona-Pitzer
—Pomona College
—Pitzer College		1971-72 to present
1915-16 to 1933-34; 1938-39 to present
1971-72 to present		Claremont
1887
1963		Private

1,548
950		Sagehens
University of Redlands1915-16 to presentRedlands1907Private
4,400Bulldogs
Whittier College1915-16 to 1942-43;
1946-47 to present		Whittier1887Private
1,540Poets

Former member schools

There are three schools that once participated in SCIAC athletics and no longer do so:
InstitutionMembershipLocation
FoundedTypeEnrollmentNicknameCurrent
Conference
University of California, Los Angeles1920-21 to 1926-27Los Angeles1919Public39,271BruinsPac-12
San Diego State University1926-27 to 1938-39San Diego1897Public31,303AztecsMountain West
University of California, Santa Barbara
1931-32 to 1937-38Santa Barbara1891Public22,850GauchosBig West

Membership timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1915 till:2015
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:yellow from:1915 till:1934 text:Caltech
bar:1 color:yellow from:1938 till:end text:Caltech
bar:2 color:yellow from:1915 till:end text:Occidental
bar:4 color:yellow from:1915 till:1934 text:Pomona
bar:4 color:yellow from:1938 till:1971 text:Pomona
bar:4 color:yellow from:1971 till:end text:Pomona-Pitzer
bar:5 color:yellow from:1915 till:end text:Redlands
bar:6 color:yellow from:1915 till:1943 text:Whittier
bar:6 color:yellow from:1946 till:end text:Whittier
bar:7 color:yellow from:1920 till:1927 text:UCLA
bar:8 color:yellow from:1926 till:1939 text:SDSU
bar:9 color:yellow from:1926 till:1938 text:La Verne
bar:9 color:yellow from:1971 till:end text:La Verne
bar:10 color:yellow from:1931 till:1938 text:UC Santa Barbara
bar:11 color:yellow from:1947 till:1962 text:Claremont
bar:11 color:yellow from:1962 till:1981 text:Claremont-Mudd
bar:11 color:yellow from:1981 till:end text:Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
bar:12 color:yellow from:1950 till:1952 text:Chapman
bar:12 shift: color:yellow from:2011 till:end text:Chapman
bar:13 color:yellow from:1991 till:end text:Cal Lutheran
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1915
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: # tabs:
text:"SCIAC membership history"

All-sports champions