 Rutgers was among the first American institutions to engage in intercollegiate athletics, and participated in a small circle of schools that included Yale University, Columbia University and long-time rival, Princeton University (then called "The College of New Jersey").The four schools met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Manhattan on October 19, 1873 to establish a set of rules governing their intercollegiate competition, and particularly to codify the new game of football.Though invited, Harvard chose not to attend.