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67-755: The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ( MEAC / ˈ m iː æ k / MEE -ak ) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States . It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I , and in football , in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Currently,

134-575: A Division II institution with Division I programs in men's and women's golf, joined for men's golf. Augusta became the MEAC's first associate member and first non-HBCU with any type of membership. The conference has since added two more non-HBCU associate members, with Monmouth University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) joining for bowling in 2018. In April 2017, Savannah State announced that it would drop to Division II effective with

201-403: A bipartisan bill that permanently invested more than $ 250 million a year to HBCUs. In 2021, President Joe Biden 's first year in office, he invested a historic $ 5.8 billion to support HBCUs. In 2022, Biden's administration announced an additional $ 2.7 billion through his American Rescue Plan. Homecoming is a tradition at almost every American college and university, however homecoming has

268-483: A demonstration of racial progress. Black schools hired coaches, recruited and featured stellar athletes, and set up their own leagues. In the 1930s, many Jewish intellectuals fleeing Europe after the rise of Hitler and anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany following Hitler's elevation to power emigrated to the United States and found work teaching in historically black colleges. In particular, 1933

335-615: A firm belief in diversity and giving opportunity no matter the race, religion, or country of origin. HBCUs were open to Jews because of their ideas of equal learning spaces. They sought to create an environment where all people felt welcome to study, including women. HBCUs made substantial contributions to the US war effort. One example is Tuskegee University in Alabama, where the Tuskegee Airmen trained and attended classes. After

402-695: A member of the Ohio Valley Conference since 1986, while Hampton left the MEAC in 2018 for the Big South Conference . In 2021, North Carolina A&T State University made the same conference move that Hampton made three years earlier (MEAC to Big South). Both Hampton and North Carolina A&T later moved their athletic programs to the Colonial Athletic Association and its technically separate football league of CAA Football; Hampton joined both sides of

469-501: A more unique meaning at HBCUs. Homecoming plays a significant role in the culture and identity of HBCUs. The level of pageantry and local black community involvement (parade participation, business vendors, etc.) helps make HBCU homecomings more distinctive. Due to higher campus traffic and activity, classes at HBCUs are usually cancelled on Friday and Saturday of homecoming. Millions of alumni, students, celebrity guests, and visitors attend HBCU homecomings every year. In addition to being

536-630: A predominantly black student body are not classified as HBCUs because they were founded (or opened their doors to African Americans) after the implementation of the Sweatt v. Painter (1950) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court (the court decisions which outlawed racial segregation of public education facilities) and the Higher Education Act of 1965. In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to distribute adequate resources and funds to strengthen

603-509: A result, the MEAC will have eight members remaining for 2021, with only six of its members sponsoring football. The MEAC has hired a consulting firm to help assess its current schools and to help it identify potential institutions for addition to the conference. The conference plans to operate with eight current members, starting 2021 until further expansion, in a compact geographical footprint removing North and South divisions. In May 2021, multiple websites that report on HBCU sports indicated that

670-571: A scant few, found little acceptance in elite institutions in Depression-era America , which also had their own undercurrent of antisemitism . As a result of these phenomena, more than two-thirds of the faculty hired at many HBCUs from 1933 to 1945 had come to the United States to escape from Nazi Germany. HBCUs believed the Jewish professors were valuable faculty that would help strengthen their institutions' credibility. HBCUs had

737-498: A second such sport in 2025. Unlike the other two divisions, Division III institutions cannot offer athletic scholarships. Among the other NCAA Division III requirements, schools have sports sponsorship requirements set by the NCAA. All institutions, regardless of enrollment, must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, and each playing season represented by each sex/gender. A sports sponsorship rule unique to Division III

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804-750: Is driven by partnerships with online educational entrepreneurs like Ezell Brown . NCAA Division I has two historically black athletic conferences: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference . The top football teams from the conferences have played each other in postseason bowl games: the Pelican Bowl (1970s), the Heritage Bowl (1990s), and the Celebration Bowl (2015–present). These conferences are home to all Division I HBCUs except for Hampton University and Tennessee State University . Tennessee State has been

871-592: Is that the total number of sports that must be sponsored differs by a school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or fewer must sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six men's and six women's sports. As in the other divisions, teams that include both men and women are treated as men's sports for the purpose of these regulations. Conferences that sponsor football highlighted in yellow. These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-III championships. In addition to

938-684: The African-American middle class . In the 1950s and 1960s, enforced racial segregation in education was generally outlawed across the United States. There are 101 HBCUs in the United States (of 121 institutions that existed during the 1930s), representing three percent of the nation's colleges, including public and private institutions. Twenty-seven offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master's programs, 83 offer bachelor's degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees. HBCUs currently produce nearly 20% of all African American college graduates and 25% of African American STEM graduates. Among

1005-891: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving African Americans . Most of these institutions were founded during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States . They were primarily founded by Protestant religious groups, until the Second Morill Act of 1890 required educationally segregated states (all in the South) to provide African American, public higher-education schools (i.e. state funded schools) in order to receive

1072-558: The HBCU Library Alliance . That alliance, together with Cornell University , have a joint program to digitize HBCU collections. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation . Additionally, more historically black colleges and universities are offering online education programs. As of November 23, 2010, nineteen historically black colleges and universities offer online degree programs. The growth in these programs

1139-524: The Higher Education Act of 1965 established a program for direct federal grants to HBCUs, to support their academic, financial, and administrative capabilities. Part B specifically provides for formula-based grants, calculated based on each institution's Pell grant eligible enrollment, graduation rate, and percentage of graduates who continue post-baccalaureate education in fields where African Americans are underrepresented. Some colleges with

1206-483: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 1981, the MEAC has received a qualifying bid to NCAA post season play in the sport of basketball. In three cases, MEAC schools seeded 15th (Coppin State in 1997 , Hampton in 2001 , Norfolk State in 2012 ) defeated second-seeded teams South Carolina, Iowa State and Missouri, respectively, in the NCAA tournament. Coppin State again made history, as it qualified for

1273-703: The second Morrill Act of 1890 , also known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890 , requiring states to establish a separate land grant college for blacks if blacks were being excluded from the existing land grant college. Many of the HBCUs were founded by states to satisfy the Second Morrill Act. These land grant schools continue to receive annual federal funding for their research, extension , and outreach activities. Predominantly black institutions (PBI) are institutions that do not meet

1340-658: The 2019–20 school year. In November 2017, Hampton announced they would leave the MEAC to join the Big South Conference beginning with the 2018–19 season. In February 2020 North Carolina A&T announced departing MEAC to join Big South Conference effective July 2021. Within few months, in June 2020, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman also announced that they will leave the MEAC and join the SWAC starting in July 2021. As

1407-485: The Act's benefits (19, generally larger institutions, fall under this Act). During the period of racial segregation in the United States , the majority of American institutions of higher education served predominantly white students, and disqualified or limited black American enrollment. Later on some universities, either after expanding their inclusion of black people and African Americans into their institutions or gaining

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1474-777: The Bipartisan Congressional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus was established by U.S. Representatives Alma S. Adams and Bradley Byrne . The caucus advocates for HBCUs on Capitol Hill . As of May 2022 , there are over 100 elected politicians who are members of the caucus. Annually, the U.S. Department of Education designates one week in the fall as "National HBCU Week". During this week, conferences and events are held in Washington, D.C. to discuss and celebrate HBCUs, as well as recognize some notable HBCU scholars and alumni. As of 2024, Alabama has

1541-712: The CAA in 2022, while A&T joined the all-sports CAA in 2022 before joining CAA Football in 2023. The mostly HBCU Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are part of the NCAA Division II , whereas the HBCU Gulf Coast Athletic Conference is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics . HBCUs have a rich legacy of matriculating many leaders in

1608-544: The FCS Playoffs. While the conference champion faces off in the Celebration Bowl against the SWAC Champion, the remaining conference members remain eligible for at-large bids for the playoffs. This is a partial list of the last 10 champions. For the full history, see List of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football champions . On June 8, 1980, the MEAC earned the classification as a Division I conference by

1675-601: The HBCU has outlived its purpose and lost its relevance for black youth (Lemelle, 2002; Sowell 1993; Suggs, 1997b). Following the enactment of Civil Rights laws in the 1960s, many educational institutions in the United States that receive federal funding have undertaken affirmative action to increase their racial diversity. Some historically black colleges and universities now have non-black majorities, including West Virginia State University and Bluefield State University , whose student bodies have had large white majorities since

1742-585: The MEAC again changed, as Florida A&M chose to leave. The university returned to the conference two years later. Coppin State College, now Coppin State University , joined the conference in 1985. The MEAC found some stability in membership with the addition of two HBCUs in Virginia, Hampton University and Norfolk State University in 1995 and 1997, respectively. For the next ten years,

1809-601: The MEAC had reached out to two Division II HBCUs about their interest in transitioning to D-I and joining the MEAC. Kentucky State University and Virginia State University , respectively members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association , confirmed that they had discussed possible membership with the MEAC and had commissioned feasibility studies on moving to Division I. Officials at both schools stated that they were considering

1876-404: The MEAC has automatic qualifying bids for NCAA postseason play in men's basketball (since 1981), women's basketball (since 1982), softball (since 1995), men's and women's tennis (since 1998), and volleyball (since 1994). Bowling was officially sanctioned as a MEAC-governed sport in 1999. Before that season, the MEAC was the first conference to secure NCAA sanctioning for women's bowling by adopting

1943-493: The MEAC remained an 11-member conference. In 2007, former CIAA member Winston-Salem State University was granted membership, but announced on September 11, 2009, that it would return to Division II at the end of 2009–10 and apply to return to the CIAA before ever becoming a full member of the MEAC. North Carolina Central University rejoined the conference effective July 1, 2010. NCCU was one of seven founding member institutions of

2010-407: The MEAC, but withdrew from the conference in 1979, opting to remain a Division II member when the conference reclassified to Division I. Savannah State University was announced as the newest member of the MEAC on March 10, 2010. Savannah State originally applied for membership into the MEAC in 2006 but faced an NCAA probationary period soon after. Membership was then deferred until the completion of

2077-705: The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference which are played by MEAC schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference which are played by MEAC schools: The MEAC, along with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) , are the only two Division I conferences whose members are mostly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In 2015, the MEAC joined the SWAC and Ivy leagues in abstaining from sending their conference champions to

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2144-507: The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. South Carolina State had been a longtime member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference , while the other charter members had been longtime members of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association . The conference's main goals were to establish and supervise an intercollegiate athletic program among a group of educational institutions that shared

2211-640: The NCAA sponsors separate championships for men and women are officially treated by the NCAA as two separate sports. Among the NCAA regulations, Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each sex, and each playing season represented by each sex. Teams that consist of both men and women are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. Conferences that sponsor football are highlighted in yellow. These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-II championships. One of these conferences will add

2278-661: The North, especially the American Missionary Association . The Freedmen's Bureau played a major role in financing the new schools. Atlanta University – now Clark Atlanta University – was founded on September 19, 1865, as the first HBCU in the Southern United States. Atlanta University was the first graduate institution to award degrees to African Americans in the nation and the first to award bachelor's degrees to African Americans in

2345-695: The South; Clark College (1869) was the nation's first four-year liberal arts college to serve African-American students. The two consolidated in 1988 to form Clark Atlanta University. Shaw University , founded December 1, 1865, was the second HBCU to be established in the South. The year 1865 also saw the foundation of Storer College (1865–1955) in Harper's Ferry , West Virginia. Storer's former campus and buildings have since been incorporated into Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . Some of these universities eventually became public universities with assistance from

2412-548: The above limits, as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference. The men's and women's sports so counted need not be the same sport. In addition to competing in football, multisport conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision must still meet the general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports ( see above ). Multisport conferences that do not compete in football must still meet

2479-520: The above, two single-sport conferences that currently participate in NCAA National Collegiate sports (those whose championship events are open to members of more than one NCAA division) and previously operated both men's and women's divisions now operate as women-only leagues. HBCU Historically black colleges and universities ( HBCUs ) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before

2546-568: The bachelor's degrees and 21% of the master's degrees earned by blacks in 1976–77, compared with the 14% and 6% respectively of bachelor's and master's degrees earned by blacks in 2014–15. Additionally, the percentage of black doctoral degree recipients who received their degrees from HBCUs was lower in 2014–15 (12%) than in 1976–77 (14%). The number of total students enrolled at an HBCU rose by 32% between 1976 and 2015, from 223,000 to 293,000. Total enrollment in degree-granting institutions nationwide increased by 81%, from 11 million to 20 million, in

2613-621: The club sport prior to the 1996–97 school year. In 1969, a group whose members were long associated with interscholastic athletics met in Durham, North Carolina for the purpose of discussing the organization of a new conference. After the formulation of a committee, and their research reported, seven institutions, Delaware State University , Howard University , University of Maryland Eastern Shore , Morgan State University , North Carolina A&T State University , North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State College , agreed to become

2680-584: The conference. All three schools eventually returned to the conference; Maryland Eastern Shore rejoined in 1981, Morgan State in 1984, and North Carolina Central in 2010. On June 8, 1978, the MEAC was classified as a Division I conference by the NCAA . Prior to that year, the league operated as a Division II conference. The following month the MEAC received an automatic qualification to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. In 1984, membership in

2747-410: The fields of business, law, science, education, military service, entertainment, art, and sports. Federal funding for HBCUs has notably increased in recent years. Proper federal support of HBCUs has become more of a key issue in modern U.S. presidential elections. In President Barack Obama 's eight years in office, he invested more than $ 4 billion to HBCUs. In 2019, President Donald Trump signed

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2814-429: The general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports ( see above ). Division I ice hockey has a different conference structure than the above multisport conferences. These schools have memberships in other conferences for other sports. This list includes conferences in sports that the NCAA does not fully split into divisions, such as men's volleyball and rifle. Sports in which

2881-520: The government and the secretary on the future development of these organizations. Starting in 2001, directors of libraries of several HBCUs began discussions about ways to pool their resources and work collaboratively. In 2003, this partnership was formalized as the HBCU Library Alliance , "a consortium that supports the collaboration of information professionals dedicated to providing an array of resources designed to strengthen historically black colleges and Universities and their constituents." In 2015,

2948-771: The government. In 1862, the federal government's Morrill Act provided for land grant colleges in each state. Educational institutions established under the Morrill Act in the North and West were open to blacks. But 17 states, almost all in the South, required their post-Civil war systems to be segregated and excluded black students from their land grant colleges. In the 1870s, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina each assigned one African American college land-grant status: Alcorn University, Hampton Institute, and Claflin University, respectively. In response, Congress passed

3015-631: The graduates of HBCUs are civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. , United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall , and United States Vice President Kamala Harris . HBCUs established prior to the American Civil War include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837, University of the District of Columbia (then known as Miner School for Colored Girls) in 1851, and Lincoln University in 1854. Wilberforce University

3082-489: The imposed probation period, which ended in May 2009. Savannah State then resubmitted their application for membership again in 2009 and was finally granted probationary membership status. On September 8, 2011, the university was confirmed as a full MEAC member. While the MEAC has had no new full members since then, the conference added an associate member in 2014 when Augusta University , then known as Georgia Regents University ,

3149-1113: The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, the legislature of Florida, with support from various counties, opened eleven junior colleges serving the African-American population. Their purpose was to show that separate but equal education was working in Florida. Prior to this, there had been only one junior college in Florida serving African Americans, Booker T. Washington Junior College , in Pensacola, founded in 1949. The new ones were Gibbs Junior College (1957), Roosevelt Junior College (1958), Volusia County Junior College (1958), Hampton Junior College (1958), Rosenwald Junior College (1958), Suwannee River Junior College (1959), Carver Junior College (1960), Collier-Blocker Junior College (1960), Lincoln Junior College (1960), Jackson Junior College (1961), and Johnson Junior College (1962). The new junior colleges began as extensions of black high schools. They used

3216-539: The legal definition of HBCUs, but primarily serve African Americans. Some examples of PBIs are Georgia State University , Chicago State University , Trinity Washington University , and the Community College of Philadelphia . In the 1920s and 1930s, historically black colleges developed a strong interest in athletics. Sports were expanding rapidly at state universities, but very few black stars were recruited there. Race newspapers hailed athletic success as

3283-443: The mid-1960s. As many HBCUs have made a concerted effort to maintain enrollment levels and often offer relatively affordable tuition, the percentage of non–African-American enrollment has risen. The following table highlights HBCUs with high non–African American enrollments: Other HBCUs with relatively high non–African American student populations According to the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2011 edition,

3350-482: The most active HBCUs of any state, with 14. North Carolina is second with 11. In 2023, the average HBCU 6-year undergraduate graduation rate was 35% while the national average was 64%. Spelman College had the highest graduation rate among HBCUs at 74%. Also in 2023, 73% of students attending HBCUs were Pell Grant eligible while the national average was 34%. Talladega College had the highest percent of Pell Grant eligible students among HBCUs at 95%. In 2015,

3417-529: The move, but would not commit to any change. One report also indicated that Chicago State University , a predominantly African-American school but not an HBCU, had lobbied the MEAC regarding membership. CSU was scheduled to leave the Western Athletic Conference , a league in which it is a major geographic outlier, in July 2022 to become an independent . According to this report, the MEAC had offered CSU associate membership in one sport, but

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3484-480: The nation's economy with 35% coming from the multiplier effect . There are also developments in how African Americans may choose or not choose an HBCU. HBCUs are at risk of losing ground in terms of quality of their applicants as well. The current admission policies of predominately White institutions (PWIs) ensure that qualified applicants of any color are accepted and most top institutions actively recruit minority students. Well qualified minority students are often

3551-488: The nation's public and private HBCUs. His executive order created the White House Initiative on historically black colleges and universities (WHIHBCU), which is a federally funded program that operates within the U.S. Department of Education . In 1989, George H. W. Bush continued Carter's pioneering spirit by signing Executive Order 12677, which created the presidential advisory board on HBCUs, to counsel

3618-541: The need for such institutions, with Crummell arguing that HBCUs were necessary to provide freedom from discrimination, and Douglass and Garnet arguing that self-segregation would harm the black community. A majority of the convention voted that HBCUs should be supported. Most HBCUs were established in the South after the American Civil War , often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in

3685-522: The proportion of white American students at Langston University was 12%; at Shaw University , 12%; at Tennessee State University , 12%; at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore , 12%; and at North Carolina Central University , 10%. The U.S. News & World Report ' s statistical profiles indicate that several other HBCUs have relatively significant percentages of non–African American student populations consisting of Asian, Hispanic, white American, and foreign students. HBCU libraries have formed

3752-420: The same academic standards and philosophy of co-curricular activities and seek status as a Division I conference for all of its sports. The conference was confirmed in 1970, and had its first season of competition in football in 1971. The MEAC has had three full-time commissioners. In 1978, the MEAC selected its first full-time commissioner, Kenneth A. Free, who served as commissioner until he resigned in 1995. He

3819-415: The same facilities and often the same faculty. Some built their own buildings after a few years. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated an end to school segregation, the colleges were all abruptly closed. Only a fraction of the students and faculty were able to transfer to the previously all-white junior colleges, where they found, at best, an indifferent reception. A reauthorization of

3886-490: The same period. Although HBCUs were originally founded to educate black students, their diversity has increased over time. In 2015, students who were either white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Native American made up 22% of total enrollment at HBCUs, compared with 15% in 1976. In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics released a study showing that HBCUs had a $ 10.2 billion positive impact on

3953-554: The share of black students attending HBCUs had dropped to 9% of the total number of black students enrolled in degree-granting institutions nationwide. This figure is a decline from the 13% of black students who enrolled in an HBCU in 2000 and 17% who enrolled in 1980. This is a result of desegregation, rising incomes and increased access to financial aid, which has created more college options for black students. The percentages of bachelor's and master's degrees awarded to black students by HBCUs has decreased over time. HBCUs awarded 35% of

4020-737: The sports sponsorship requirements for that sex/gender. Conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision must meet a more stringent set of NCAA requirements than other conferences. Among these additional NCAA regulations, institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision must be "multisport conferences" and participate in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, and at least two other women's team sports. Each school may count one men's and one women's sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward

4087-576: The status of minority-serving institution , became predominantly black institutions ( PBIs ). For a century after the abolition of American slavery in 1865, almost all colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending as required by Jim Crow laws in the South, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of black people. HBCUs were established to provide more opportunities to African Americans and are largely responsible for establishing and expanding

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4154-528: The target of frenzied competition (Cross, 2007). This competition is reflected in the inducements offered by PWIs to qualified black applicants, most notably monetary incentives, which many students and their parents find too attractive to turn down. For this reason and others, fewer black undergraduates are choosing to attend HBCUs, this figure has gradually declined to 22% as of 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). This dwindling percentage, coupled with opportunities at PWIs, have led some to speculate whether

4221-649: The tournament as the first 20-loss team to play in the NCAA Tournament. Last 10 years of champions. In 2023, the four remaining baseball programs from the MEAC joined the Northeast Conference to compete in baseball as associate members. List of NCAA conferences Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following criteria: Schools in all divisions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender need only meet

4288-561: Was a challenging year for many Jewish academics who tried to escape increasingly oppressive Nazi policies, particularly after legislation was passed stripping them of their positions at universities. Jews looking outside of Germany could not find work in other European countries because of calamities like the Spanish Civil War and general antisemitism in Europe. In the US, they hoped to continue their academic careers, but barring

4355-536: Was also established prior to the American Civil War. The university was founded in 1856 via a collaboration between the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio and the predominantly white Methodist Episcopal Church. HBCUs were controversial in their early years. At the 1847 National Convention of Colored People and Their Friends , the famed black orators Frederick Douglass , Henry Highland Garnet , and Alexander Crummell debated

4422-710: Was lukewarm to CSU becoming a full member because it does not sponsor football and is well outside the MEAC's geographic footprint. In July 2022, the Northeast Conference (NEC) announced a partnership with the MEAC in which MEAC schools sponsoring baseball and men's and women's golf would become NEC affiliate members in their respective sports beginning in the 2022-23 season. Full members Full members (non-football) Assoc. members (football only) Assoc. member (women's bowling) Other Conference Other Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) sponsors championship competition in six men's and eight women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by

4489-679: Was succeeded by Charles S. Harris, who served at the position until 2002. On September 1, 2002, Dennis E. Thomas became the conference's commissioner. He retired on December 31, 2021. Sonja O. Stills became the first female commissioner of the MEAC on January 1, 2022. She is also the only female commissioner of a Division I HBCU athletic conference. The MEAC experienced its first expansion in 1979 when Bethune–Cookman College (now Bethune–Cookman University ) and Florida A&M University were admitted as new members. That same year, founding members Morgan State University, North Carolina Central University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore withdrew from

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