Southeastern Conference

▪ American sports organization

      American collegiate athletic association that grew out of the Southern Conference. Members are the University of Alabama (Alabama, University of), the University of Arkansas (Arkansas, University of) (Fayetteville), Auburn University, the University of Florida (Florida, University of), the University of Georgia (Georgia, University of), the University of Kentucky (Kentucky, University of), Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi (Mississippi, University of), Mississippi State University, the University of South Carolina (South Carolina, University of), the University of Tennessee (Tennessee, University of), and Vanderbilt University. The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, an original member, dropped out of the conference in 1940, and both the Georgia Institute of Technology and Tulane University left in the 1960s. The conference was formed in 1932 when its members left the 11-year-old Southern Conference, believing that it had grown too large for competitive balance. In 1935 the SEC was the first conference to authorize athletic scholarships, and it led the movement in the National Collegiate Athletic Association to make this common practice in the 1950s. In 1992 Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference, which was then organized into two divisions of six teams each.

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