In a move aimed at enhancing the university’s academic recruitment efforts and bolstering its athletic programs, Northeastern will leave the America East Conference for the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) on June 30, 2005.

The move affiliates the university with the premier mid-major sports conference in the East, says President Freeland, who announced the switch in June.

CAA members include Delaware, Drexel, George Mason, Hofstra, James Madison, Old Dominion, Towson, University of North Carolina–Wilmington, Virginia Commonwealth, and William and Mary.
Northeastern was not expected to join the CAA until 2006, but an agreement among NU, America East, and the CAA allowed the process to be expedited. After Georgia State University joins the CAA in 2006, the conference will have representation in six of the country’s twenty-five largest media markets.

The CAA conducts championships in twenty-one sports, of which Northeastern will initially compete in twelve: baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross-country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s outdoor track, and women’s volleyball.

Freeland says the new conference will give Northeastern increased visibility in the Mid-Atlantic region—a key student recruitment area—and help align the university’s athletic ambitions with those of its ever-improving academics.

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