In 1992, the presidents of eleven selective mid-Atlantic small colleges—Ursinus, Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, McDaniel, Muhlenburg, Swarthmore, and Washington —created the Centennial Conference and the following mission: “[as] our fundamental purpose is the academic mission of institutions, we agree to establish an all-sports conference in the spirit of rationalizing our competition by controlling travel, schedule and costs. The presidents of the member institutions will control the Conference.”

With this purpose, the Centennial Conference encourages athletic competition among national liberal arts colleges and universities that share the same high quality academic aspirations, agree to leadership at the presidential level, deny the use of athletic scholarships and maintain a commitment to the total educational experience of students.

While each college recognizes the integral importance of athletics programs—all varsity sports are treated equitably, and every sport is important—the member colleges have also expanded their activities to include an annual joint undergraduate academic research conference, joint career fair opportunities and faculty sharing occasions.