The Quaker Consortium is an arrangement among three liberal arts colleges, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College, and one research university, the University of Pennsylvania, all located in the greater Philadelphia area. The arrangement allows for their students to enroll in courses at the other schools of the Consortium.
The name stems from the historic influence of Quakers in the Philadelphia region and in the founding and administration of the Consortium's member schools.
The three liberal arts colleges, members of the Tri-College Consortium, facilitate transportation among their respective campuses with free shuttle services. No such service is offered between the liberal arts colleges and Penn. Students wishing to get to Penn must drive or take the SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line or Media/Wawa Line trains to Philadelphia. Haverford and Bryn Mawr students can also take the Norristown High Speed Line to 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby where they transfer to SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line to reach Penn. Some programs at the liberal arts colleges subsidize these SEPTA fares.
Historically, students from the three liberal arts colleges have taken advantage of the consortium (for Penn's vast curricular offerings) much more frequently than Penn undergraduates. In 2006, for example, around 150 Bryn Mawr College students took classes at Penn, while only 5 Penn students took classes at the three liberal arts colleges. [1] [ needs update ]
Bryn Mawr is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30. As of 2020, the CDP is defined to include sections of Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, as well as portions of Haverford Township and Radnor Township in Delaware County.
Haverford Township is a home rule municipality township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Haverford is named after the town of Haverfordwest in Wales. It is a commuting suburb located due west of Philadelphia and is officially known as the Township of Haverford. Despite being under a home rule charter since 1977, it continues to operate under a Board of Commissioners divided into wards, as do "First Class" townships that are still under the Pennsylvania Township Code. Haverford Township was founded in 1682 and incorporated in 1911.
Lower Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Philadelphia Main Line. The township's name originates with the county of Merioneth in north Wales. Merioneth is an English-language transcription of the Welsh Meirionnydd.
Narberth is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is one of many neighborhoods on the historic Philadelphia Main Line. The population was 4,282 at the 2010 census.
Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as a college under the Religious Society of Friends. By 1906, Swarthmore had dropped its religious affiliation and officially became non-sectarian.
Haverford College is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Haverford began accepting non-Quakers in 1849 and women in 1980.
Bryn Mawr College is a private women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of historically women's colleges in the United States. The college has an enrollment of about 1,350 undergraduate students and 450 graduate students. It was the first women's college to offer graduate education through a PhD.
Radnor Township, often called simply Radnor, is a first class township with home rule status in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Seven Sisters are a group of seven private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that are historically women's colleges. Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and Wellesley College are still women's colleges. Vassar College became coeducational in 1969 and Radcliffe College was absorbed in 1999 by Harvard College and now offers programs in advanced study.
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's once prestigious Main Line, it runs northwest from Center City Philadelphia parallel to Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, also known as U.S. Route 30.
The colonial colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution before the founding of the United States. These nine have long been considered together, notably since the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature.
Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre (0.69 km2) campus. Ursinus College's forerunner was the Freeland Seminary founded in 1848. Its $127 million endowment supports about 1,500 students. Students choose from 60 courses of study.
Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Haverford station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It is served by most Paoli/Thorndale Line trains with the exception of a few express runs, and is located on Haverford Station Road. The station was originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Penn Valley is an unincorporated community located within Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn Valley residents share a zip code with Merion, Narberth, or Wynnewood because the community does not have its own post office. However, Penn Valley is a distinct community whose civic association demarcates its boundaries with iconic signs featuring William Penn and a farmhouse in blue or red on white, dating from 1930.
Addison Hutton (1834–1916) was a Philadelphia architect who designed prominent residences in Philadelphia and its suburbs, plus courthouses, hospitals, and libraries, including the Ridgway Library, now Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He made major additions to the campuses of Westtown School, George School, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Lehigh University.
The Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium is a nonprofit educational organization founded in 1980 serving the region around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including western New Jersey and northern Delaware. Its current membership includes the philosophy departments of 14 regional colleges and universities.
Joseph Wright Taylor is best known for being the financial catalyst for the founding of Bryn Mawr College. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, a physician and a member of the Society of Friends, and originally wanted the college to promote the ideals of the Quaker religion and the advancement of women's education. In 1878 he paid $53,500 for forty acres in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
The Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore College in American football. Swarthmore was the 15th oldest college football program in the United States. The football program started in 1878 with a game against Penn. The program played no more than two games per year until 1885 when it played a six-game schedule. There was no team in 1880 and 1881. The team did not hire a coach until 1888 when Jacob K. Shell began his 11-year tenure as head coach. This article covers the program's early years prior to the hiring of Shell as the school's first head football coach.