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University of Chicago

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography

   CAPTION: The University of Chicago

   Shield of the University of Chicago
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   Motto Crescat scientia; vita excolatur (Latin for "Let knowledge grow
   from more to more; and so be human life enriched")
   Established 1890 by John D. Rockefeller
   Type Private coeducational
   Endowment $4.8 billion
   President Robert J. Zimmer
   Faculty 2,160
   Staff 12,460 (includes Hospitals)
   Undergraduates 4,391
   Postgraduates 9,110
   Location Chicago, Illinois, USA
   Campus Urban, 211 acres (850,000 m²)
   Colors Maroon and White
   Nickname Maroons
   Mascot Phoenix
   Website www.uchicago.edu

   The University of Chicago is a private university located principally
   in the Hyde Park neighbourhood of Chicago. Founded in 1890 by oil
   magnate John D. Rockefeller, the University of Chicago held its first
   classes on October 1, 1892. Chicago was one of the first universities
   in the country to be conceived as a combination of the American
   interdisciplinary liberal arts college and the German research
   university.

   The University of Chicago is widely recognized as one of the world's
   foremost universities. The university is affiliated with 79 Nobel Prize
   laureates. Particularly notable are the university's 27 laureates in
   physics and 23 laureates in economics. Historically, the university is
   noted for its unique undergraduate core curriculum as well as other
   educational innovations pioneered by Robert Maynard Hutchins in the
   1930s (including the academic quarter system), and for influential
   academic movements such as the " Chicago School of Economics", the "
   Chicago School of Sociology," the " Chicago School of Literary
   Criticism," and the law and economics movement in legal analysis. The
   University of Chicago was the site of the world's first self-sustained
   nuclear reaction. It is also home to the largest university press in
   the country.

Campus overview

   The university's campus during the spring
   Enlarge
   The university's campus during the spring

   The University of Chicago is principally located seven miles south of
   downtown Chicago, in the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn. The
   University of Chicago's campus is bisected by Frederick Law Olmsted's
   Midway Plaisance, a large linear park created for the 1893 World's
   Fair. The bulk of the campus, including the Main Quadrangle, is located
   north of the Midway, while several of the professional schools are
   located south of the Midway. The university's campus is noted for its
   neo-Gothic architecture, which was constructed entirely out of
   limestone in the late 19th century, and is complemented by the Main
   Quandrangles' status as a botanical garden. The buildings of the
   original quadrangles were deliberately patterned after the layouts of
   Oxford University and Cambridge University. Mitchell Tower, for
   example, is a smaller-sized reproduction of Oxford's Magdalen Tower,
   and the University Commons, Hutchinson Hall, is a duplicate of Oxford's
   Christ Church Hall.

   Contemporary buildings have attempted to complement the style of the
   original architecture, with varying degrees of success. One of the most
   striking modern additions is the Regenstein Library, designed by
   architect Walter Netsch and constructed on the grounds of the former
   Stagg Field, the site of the world's first nuclear reaction. The campus
   is also home to Rockefeller Chapel, designed by Bertram Goodhue, and
   the Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

   A recent two billion dollar campaign has brought unprecedented
   expansion to the university, including: the unveiling of the Max
   Palevsky Residential Commons, the Gerald Ratner Athletics Centre, a new
   hospital, and a new science building. The Jules and Gwen Knapp Center
   for Biomedical Discovery, a ten-story medical research centre, as well
   as further additions to the medical campus are currently under
   construction.. The university plans to direct the next stage of its
   campaign towards revamping and consolidating dormitories, some of which
   are far from campus and aging poorly. Plans are underway for the
   construction of a new dormitory on land south of the Midway Plaisance.

   The university also maintains several facilities apart from its main
   campus. The university's Graduate School of Business maintains campuses
   in Singapore, London and in the Chicago Loop, while the Paris Centre, a
   campus located on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris, hosts
   various undergraduate and graduate study programs.

   Moreover, the university's Yerkes Observatory, in Williams Bay,
   Wisconsin constructed in 1897, is home to the largest refracting
   telescope ever built. Although Yerkes was never able to match the
   observation conditions afforded by the mountaintop location of its main
   competitor, the Lick Observatory, Yerkes was a leader in astrophysics.
   It was at Yerkes that the spiral structure the Milky Way Galaxy was
   first demonstrated, and carbon first discovered in stellar spectra.
   Swift Hall, located on the Main Quadrangles.
   Enlarge
   Swift Hall, located on the Main Quadrangles.

   The campus is furthermore home to the Oriental Institute, an
   internationally renowned archeology museum and research centre for
   ancient Near Eastern studies. The Institute is housed in an unusual
   Gothic and Art Deco building designed by the architectural firm Mayers
   Murray & Phillip. The Museum has artifacts from digs in Egypt, Israel,
   Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Notable possessions include the famous
   Megiddo Ivories, various treasures from Persepolis, the old Persian
   capital, a 40-ton human-headed winged bull from Khorsabad, the capital
   of Sargon II, and a monumental statue of King Tutankhamun.

   Across the street from Oriental Institute is the Seminary Co-op book
   store. The labyrinthine Co-op, located in the basement of the Chicago
   Theological Seminary on University Avenue, stocks the largest selection
   of academic volumes in the United States.

History

   Much of the information below is adapted from the University of
   Chicago's official website.
   Rockefeller Chapel, the tallest structure on campus.
   Enlarge
   Rockefeller Chapel, the tallest structure on campus.

   The University of Chicago was founded by oil magnate John D.
   Rockefeller, who later called it "the best investment I ever made." The
   University's founding was part of a wave of university foundings that
   followed the American Civil War. Incorporated in 1890, the University
   has dated its founding as July 1, 1891, when William Rainey Harper
   became its first president. The first classes were held on October 1,
   1892, with an enrollment of 594 students and a faculty of 120,
   including eight former college presidents.

   Westward migration, population growth, and industrialization led to an
   increasing need for elite schools away from the East Coast, especially
   schools whose focus would be on issues vital to national development.
   Though Rockefeller was urged to build in New England or the
   Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, he ultimately chose Chicago.
   His choice reflected his strong desire to realize Thomas Jefferson's
   dream of a natural meritocracy's rise to prominence, determined by
   talent rather than familial heritage. Rockefeller's early fiscal
   emphasis on the physics department showed his pragmatic, yet deeply
   intellectual, desires for the school.

   Though founded under Baptist auspices, Chicago has never had a
   sectarian affiliation. The school's traditions of rigorous scholarship
   were established primarily by Presidents William Rainey Harper and
   Robert Maynard Hutchins. Chicago opened its door to women and
   minorities from the very beginning, at a time when their access to
   other leading universities was extremely rare. It was the first major
   university to enroll women on an equal basis with men , as well as the
   first major, predominantly white university to offer a black professor
   a tenured post circa 1947.

   Unlike many other American universities at the time (with the notable
   exception of Johns Hopkins), the University of Chicago was set up
   around a number of graduate research institutions, following Germanic
   precedent. The college itself remained quite small compared to its East
   Coast peers until around the middle of the 20th century.

   As a result, the graduate population of the university, to this day,
   dwarfs the undergraduate population 2:1, while the university's
   undergraduate student body remains the third smallest amongst the top
   10 national universities. The student-to-faculty ratio is also one of
   the lowest amongst national universities, at 4:1, and all faculty
   members are required to teach undergraduate courses.

   During his presidency, Robert Maynard Hutchins met with the president
   of rival Northwestern University to discuss the future of the two
   institutions through the Depression and the looming war. Hutchins
   concluded that, in order to secure the future of both universities, it
   was in the best interest of both for the two campuses to merge as the
   Universities of Chicago, with Northwestern's campus serving as the site
   for undergraduate education, and the Hyde Park campus serving as the
   graduate studies campus. President Hutchins' vision for what he hoped
   would become the preeminent university in the world was eventually
   quashed by Northwestern University's board of trustees, a result that
   Hutchins called "one of the lost opportunities of American education."
   The Midway Plaisance, with several towers of the Main Quadrangle.
   Enlarge
   The Midway Plaisance, with several towers of the Main Quadrangle.

   As part of the Manhattan Project, University of Chicago chemists, led
   by Glenn T. Seaborg, began to study the newly manufactured radioactive
   element, plutonium. The George Herbert Jones Laboratory was the site
   where, for the first time, a trace quantity of this new element was
   isolated and measured in September 1942. This procedure enabled
   chemists to determine the new element's atomic weight. Room 405 of the
   building was named a National Historic Landmark in May 1967.

   On December 2, 1942, the world's first self-sustained nuclear reaction
   was achieved at Stagg Field on the campus of the university under the
   direction of professor Enrico Fermi. A sculpture by Henry Moore marks
   the location where the nuclear reaction took place (now deemed a
   National Historic Landmark). Stagg Field has since been demolished to
   make way for the Regenstein Library.

   In addition to its groundbreaking work involving nuclear energy, the
   University of Chicago is also recognized for numerous other significant
   discoveries, including:
     * The technique of carbon-14 dating, developed in 1949 by Willard
       Frank Libby and his team during his tenure as a professor at the
       university. Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960
       for this discovery.
     * The discovery of the atmosphere's jet stream.
     * The discovery of REM sleep.
     * The procedure for the nation's first living-donor liver transplant.
     * The famous Miller-Urey experiment, considered to be the classic
       experiment on the origin of life.
     * The development of agent orange, a highly-toxic herbicide that
       would gain notoriety for its use during the Vietnam War.

   In 1955, the University of Chicago became the birthplace of
   improvisational comedy with the formation of the undergraduate comedy
   troupe, the Compass Players.

   In 1978, Hanna Holborn Gray, then the provost of Yale University,
   became President of the university, the first woman ever to serve as
   the president of a major research university.

   In 1999, then-President Hugo Sonnenschein announced plans to relax the
   university's famed core curriculum, including reducing the number of
   required courses from 21 to 15. When The New York Times, The Economist,
   and other major news outlets picked up this story, the university
   became the focal point of a national debate on education. The National
   Association of Scholars, for example, released a statement saying, "It
   is truly depressing to observe a steady abandonment of the University
   of Chicago's once imposing undergraduate core curriculum, which for so
   long stood as the benchmark of content and rigor among American
   academic institutions." The changes were ultimately implemented, but
   the controversy led to Sonnenschein's resignation in 2000.

   In 2006, the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute became the
   centre of controversy when U.S. federal courts ruled to seize and
   auction its valuable collection of ancient Persian artifacts, the
   proceeds of which would go to compensate the victims of a 1997 bombing
   in Jerusalem that the United States claim was funded by Iran. The
   ruling threatens the university's invaluable collection of ancient clay
   tablets held by the Oriental Institute since the 1930s but officially
   owned by Iran.

Academics

Specific programs

   The University of Chicago's economics department is particularly
   well-known. In fact, an entire school of thought (the Chicago School of
   Economics) bears its name. Led by Nobel Prize laureates such as Milton
   Friedman, Ronald Coase, George Stigler, Gary Becker, Robert Lucas,
   James Heckman, and Robert Fogel, the university's economics department
   has played an important role in shaping ideas about the free market.
   The Chicago School of Economics is also famous for applying economic
   principles to every aspect of human life, as famously demonstrated by
   Steven Levitt in his best-selling book, Freakonomics.

   The university is also known for creating the first sociology
   department in the United States, which later gave birth to the Chicago
   School of Sociology. Scholars affiliated with this school are
   considered pioneers in the field and include Albion Small, George
   Herbert Mead, Robert E. Park, W. I. Thomas, and Ernest Burgess.

   The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary
   scholarship, the most famous of which is the Committee on Social
   Thought. One of several Ph.D-granting committees at the university, it
   was started in 1941 by University of Chicago president Robert Maynard
   Hutchins along with historian John U. Nef, economist Frank Knight, and
   anthropologist Robert Redfield. The committee is interdisciplinary, but
   it is not centered on any specific topic. Since its inception, the
   committee has drawn together noted academics and writers to "foster
   awareness of the permanent questions at the origin of all learned
   inquiry". Members of this program have included Hannah Arendt, T. S.
   Eliot, Leo Strauss, Allan Bloom, Nathan Tarcov, Friedrich von Hayek,
   Leon Kass, Mark Strand, Wayne Booth, and J.M. Coetzee.

   In 1983, the University of Chicago implemented the University of
   Chicago School Mathematics Project, a comprehensive mathematics program
   for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Today, an
   estimated 3.5 to 4 million students in elementary and secondary schools
   in every state and virtually every major urban area are now using UCSMP
   materials.

Divisions and schools

   Divisions
     * Biological Sciences
     * Humanities
     * Physical Sciences
     * Social Sciences

   Schools
     * The College
     * Divinity School
     * Graduate School of Business
     * Harris School of Public Policy Studies
     * Law School
     * Pritzker School of Medicine
     * School of Social Service Administration

   Other Academic Institutions
     * Argonne National Laboratory
     * Fermilab
     * Laboratory Schools
     * University of Chicago Hospitals
     * Yerkes Observatory
     * Graham School for General Studies

   Title VI Area Centers
     * Centre for Middle Eastern Studies
     * Centre for International Studies
     * Centre for Latin American Studies
     * Centre for East Asian Studies
     * Centre for South Asian Studies
     * Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies

   Eckhart Hall, located on the East Quadrangles.
   Enlarge
   Eckhart Hall, located on the East Quadrangles.

   The University of Chicago currently maintains twelve units: the
   College, four divisions of graduate research, six professional schools,
   and the Graham School of General Studies. The University of Chicago
   also operates the Library, the Press, the Lab Schools, and the
   Hospitals.

   Faculty and students at the adjacent Toyota Technological Institute at
   Chicago also collaborate closely with the university. Although formally
   unrelated, the National Opinion Research Centre is also located on the
   campus, with many faculty members and graduate students holding
   research appointments at NORC.

   The university also operates the University of Chicago Laboratory
   Schools (from day care through high school, founded by John Dewey and
   considered one of the leading preparatory schools in the United
   States), the Hyde Park Day Schools (for the learning disabled of
   otherwise exceptional ability), and the Orthogenic School (a
   residential treatment program for those with behavioural and emotional
   problems). The university also administers two unaffiliated public
   charter schools on the South Side of Chicago.

   The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the
   country. It publishes a wide array of scholarly and academic texts,
   including the influential Chicago Manual of Style, as well as several
   academic journals (including Critical Inquiry).

   The University of Chicago's library system is also one of the largest
   in the country. The university's Regenstein Library is committed to
   providing physical, "browsable" access to print books in a single
   location, rather than relying on offsite storage as many libraries do.
   A planned expansion will raise its collection from 6.5 million volumes
   to 8 million volumes, surpassing the University of Illinois at
   Urbana-Champaign (currently the largest with 7.5 million volumes
   onsite) and making the Regenstein the largest such university library
   in the United States. In 2005, funding was approved for the
   construction of a 38,000-square-foot addition to the library in order
   to accommodate the collection's expansion. It is scheduled to be
   completed by winter of 2009. The "Reg", as it is commonly called by
   students, is noted for its exceptional breadth and depth of material.
   Within its 2007 rankings, the Princeton Review ranked it among the top
   three college libraries in the country.

   The John Crerar Library is recognized as one of the best libraries in
   the country for research and teaching in the sciences, medicine, and
   technology. Completing the science quadrangle is the Kersten Physics
   Teaching Centre, which is recognized as the most advanced facility in
   the U.S. for the teaching of undergraduate physics. Students in the
   College have access to all of the university’s special libraries,
   including the D’Angelo Law Library, Yerkes Observatory Library for
   astronomy and astrophysics, the Social Service Administration Library,
   and the Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science.

   Chicago also operates a number of off-campus scientific research
   institutions, including the Argonne National Laboratory, part of the
   United States Department of Energy's national laboratory system. The
   university also owns and operates the Oriental Institute and has a
   stake in the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. It is
   also a founding member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

   In February 2006, the University of Chicago announced its bid for a
   U.S. Department of Energy contract to obtain complete management rights
   to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which maintains the
   Tevatron, the world's highest-energy particle accelerator. Fermilab is
   currently one of the world's primary scientific research centers in the
   fields of elementary particle physics and astrophysics.

Undergraduate college

   The centerpiece of the University of Chicago is the undergraduate
   college, known as the College of the University of Chicago. The
   majority of undergraduate courses are small, discussion-based seminars,
   and undergraduate students routinely take their upper-level courses
   alongside graduate students.
   Buildings such as these within the main quadrangle epitomize the
   neo-Gothic architecture that is present throughout the campus.
   Enlarge
   Buildings such as these within the main quadrangle epitomize the
   neo-Gothic architecture that is present throughout the campus.

   The College of the University of Chicago grants Bachelor of Arts and
   Bachelor of Science degrees in 52 majors and 14 minors in the
   biological, physical, and social sciences, as well as in the humanities
   and interdisciplinary areas. A major may provide a comprehensive
   understanding of a well-defined field, such as anthropology or
   mathematics, or it may be an interdisciplinary program such as African
   and African-American studies, environmental studies, biological
   chemistry, or cinema and media studies. A full list of offered majors
   and minors is available within the college's main article.

   Undergraduate students must undergo a rigorous core curriculum, the
   goal of which is to impart an education that is both timeless and a
   vehicle for interdisciplinary debate. Students must take courses
   designed to foster critical skills in a broad range of academic
   disciplines, including history, literature, science, mathematics,
   writing, and critical reasoning. Core curriculum classes at Chicago are
   capped at 25 students and are generally led by a full-time professor
   (as opposed to a teaching assistant). Currently, 15 courses are
   required in addition to tested foreign language proficiency if no
   Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations are used
   for exemption (a reduction of six quarters may be achieved via this
   method). While the science curriculum has largely followed the
   intellectual evolution of its respective fields, the requisite
   humanities and social science sequences now have several variants that
   encompass non-Western, non-canonical, and critical theory texts. While
   in totality the core curriculum’s goal is to impart an education that
   is both timeless and a vehicle for interdisciplinary debate, the
   increasing number of options to students within its confines produces a
   wide variety of backgrounds amongst graduates.

   First-year students are assigned to one of 37 houses through the
   university's house system. House sizes range from 25 to 100 members but
   typically consist of no more than 70 students. Each house is staffed
   with at least one upperclassman who acts as a Resident Assistant(RA).
   Each house is also assigned a Resident Head (RH) family, typically
   upper level graduate students or staff at the university, who provide
   additional support. The house system serves as the focal point of
   university life, with each house offering amenities such as kitchens,
   common areas, and study rooms. A significant portion of the
   undergraduate student body, however, lives off-campus, and relocation
   amongst the houses is not uncommon.

Rankings and reputation

   The entrance to Mandel Hall, a Victorian-style theater that acts as a
   concert and assembly venue for students.
   Enlarge
   The entrance to Mandel Hall, a Victorian-style theatre that acts as a
   concert and assembly venue for students.

   The 2006 Academic Ranking of World Universities, popularized by The
   Economist and produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute of
   Higher Education, ranked the University of Chicago the 8th best
   university in the world (tied with Princeton University) in terms of
   quality of scientific research leading towards numerous awards.
   Furthermore, in the annual rankings by the The Times Higher Education
   Supplement, based on a subjective peer review by scholars, Chicago
   placed 11th internationally . Finally, in its 2006 evaluation of
   universities on the dual basis of distinction in research and
   international diversity, Newsweek ranked the University of Chicago 20th
   in the world.

   The University of Chicago was ranked 9th (tied with Columbia University
   and Dartmouth College) among undergraduate programs at national
   universities, according to the 2007 rankings list produced by U.S. News
   and World Report. The university was also ranked 6th in a peer
   assessment by academic deans. In its 2007 rankings, the Princeton
   Review rated the university 1st for having the "Best Overall Academic
   Experience For Undergraduates" among all American colleges and
   universities.

   The Graduate School of Business, the Law School, the School of Social
   Service Administration, and the Divinity School are amongst the leading
   institutions in their fields internationally, while the Pritzker School
   of Medicine and the Harris School of Public Policy Studies perform
   strongly at the national level.

   The university also operates the University of Chicago Hospitals, which
   was ranked the fourteenth best hospital in the country by U.S. News and
   World Report. It is the only hospital in Illinois ever to be included
   in the magazine's "Honour Roll" of the best hospitals in the United
   States.

   Further, the university has also been an incubator for several
   prominent business ventures, with: the world’s first management
   consultancy, McKinsey & Company , software giant Oracle , and the
   United States first international corporate law firm, Baker and
   McKenzie , all been founded by Chicagoans.

Athletics

   Chicago's sports teams are called the Maroons, and their colors are
   maroon and white. They participate in the NCAA's Division III as
   members of the University Athletic Association (UAA). At one point, the
   University of Chicago's football teams (nicknamed the Monsters of the
   Midway at the time) were among the best in the country, winning seven
   Big Ten Conference titles from 1899 to 1924, including a national
   championship in 1905 while playing at the old Stagg Field. The
   University is also one of only a few schools to be undefeated in
   football against Notre Dame. In 1935, Chicago's Jay Berwanger was the
   winner of the first-ever Heisman Trophy. The following year, Berwanger
   also became the first player to be drafted by the National Football
   League.

   However, the university, (a founding member of the Big Ten Conference),
   de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939 when it dropped football and
   withdrew from the league in 1946. It would reinstate football as a
   Division III team in 1969, continuing to play its home games at the new
   Stagg Field. The Maroon football team has won the University Athletic
   Association championship in 1998, 2000 and 2005. The University
   maintains an affiliation with the Big Ten schools through the Committee
   on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of twelve Midwestern
   research universities.

   The school's mascot is the Phoenix, chosen in honour of the city of
   Chicago's rebirth after the Great Chicago Fire, and also in honour of
   the previous University of Chicago, which dissolved due to financial
   reasons (making the current University of Chicago the second university
   to carry the name). The gargoyle has become an unofficial mascot of the
   university, owing to the ubiquitous statues of gargoyles that adorn
   many of the buildings on campus.

Student life

Student organizations

   Notable extracurricular groups include the University of Chicago
   College Bowl Team, which has won 118 tournaments and 15 national
   championships, leading both categories internationally. The Chicago
   Debate Society has had a top four team at the American Parliamentary
   Debate Association's National Championship tournament four out of the
   past five years.
   The University of Chicago is recognized as an official botanical garden
   by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.
   Enlarge
   The University of Chicago is recognized as an official botanical garden
   by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.

   The university's independent student newspaper is the Chicago Maroon.
   Founded in 1892, the same year as the university, the newspaper is
   published every Tuesday and Friday. Chicago Business, published by
   students in the Graduate School of Business, was founded in 1978.

   The University of Chicago's University Theatre is one of the oldest
   student-run theatre organizations in the country, involving as many as
   500 members of the university community, producing 30 to 35 shows a
   year, and selling on the order of 10,000 tickets. It also operates
   Off-Off Campus, one of the University's improv comedy troupes, started
   in 1986 by Bernard Sahlins, one of the founders of Second City.

   There are many fraternities and sororities that have established
   histories with Chicago, including Alpha Delta Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi,
   Alpha Phi Omega, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Delta Upsilon, Lambda Phi
   Epsilon, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Psi Upsilon, and Sigma Phi
   Epsilon (fraternities), as well as Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Gamma, Kappa
   Alpha Theta, and Sigma Lambda Gamma (sororities). During the school
   year, Greek organizations usually throw house parties on every night of
   the week (with the exception of holidays and "finals week").

   WHPK, a student-run and University-owned radio station, broadcasts out
   of the Reynolds Club on the university campus. DJ "JP Chill" has had a
   rap and hip hop show on WHPK since 1986. It was one of the earliest rap
   shows in the country and the first in Chicago.

Doc Films

   Doc Films, founded in 1932 (originally the Documentary Film Group), is
   the oldest student film society in the country. In Vanity Fair's "Film
   Snob's Dictionary", Doc Films is described as: "Hard-core beyond words
   and lay comprehension, the society is populated by 19-year olds who
   have already seen every film ever made, and boasts its own Dolby
   Digital-equipped cinema and an impressive roster of alumni that
   includes snob-revered critic Dave Kehr."

   During the school year, Doc Films screens a different film on every
   night of the week. Foreign films and documentaries are typically
   screened on weekdays, while recent, mainstream selections are shown on
   weekends. Occasionally, Doc Films screens works that have not yet been
   released to the general public, such as Corpse Bride and Brokeback
   Mountain.

   Doc Films has hosted many Hollywood luminaries as guests, including
   Alfred Hitchcock ( Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds), Fritz Lang (
   Metropolis), and Woody Allen ( Annie Hall, Manhattan). Most recently,
   in November 2005, director Ang Lee and producer James Schamus visited
   the University of Chicago to screen the film Brokeback Mountain a month
   before its American debut, and to participate in a question-and-answer
   session with students.

Traditions

   Summer Breeze, the University of Chicago's annual spring concert,
   typically attracts thousands of students. In 2006, George Clinton
   (pictured) headlined Summer Breeze.
   Enlarge
   Summer Breeze, the University of Chicago's annual spring concert,
   typically attracts thousands of students. In 2006, George Clinton
   (pictured) headlined Summer Breeze.
     * Summer Breeze - The university's annual spring concert. Past
       musicians who have performed at Summer Breeze include Wilco,
       Eminem, Kanye West, Run DMC, They Might Be Giants, Method Man,
       Moby, Fuel, Nas, Jurassic 5, U2, Talib Kweli, OK Go, Mos Def, and
       George Clinton. A three-day outdoor festival (including an
       all-night dance party on the Main Quads) accompanies the event.
     * Shake Day - Milkshakes sell for only one dollar every Wednesday at
       the Reynolds Club. The Einstein Bros. Bagels franchise were only
       allowed to open on campus after agreeing to adhere to this
       tradition.
     * Midnight Breakfast - A midnight breakfast is held during every
       "finals week" of the academic year, attracting students and faculty
       members alike.
     * Track Team Streak - At 10:00 p.m. on the Sunday night before
       "finals week" of the winter quarter, the University of Chicago
       track team streaks through the Regenstein Library.
     * O-Week - Every year since 1934, the University of Chicago has set
       time aside before classes begin to provide an introduction to the
       University for all new students.
     * Lascivious Costume Ball - This event was begun in 1970 and the
       administration discontinued it in 1987. Students would pay no fee
       if they came and uncloaked in the nude, a half-fee for wearing an
       appropriately lascivious (in the eyes of the students running the
       ball) costume, and full fee for remaining in "street clothes". The
       event was held in Ida Noyes Hall.
     * Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko - A festival celebrating Chicago in the
       winter. Often referred to as Kuvia, it entails a variety of events,
       including ice sculpting, hot chocolate get-togethers, musical
       performances, faculty fireside discussions, and a rigorous program
       of early morning exercised (kangeiko, a Japanese tradition of
       winter training) that culminates in a yoga-influenced "salute to
       the sun," performed outdoors in freezing temperatures just before
       the sun rises. Also notable is the Polar Bear Run, during which
       dozens of students run nude or nearly nude across the Main
       Quadrangles.

   According to a common superstition among university students, stepping
   on University Seal (located in the main lobby of the Reynolds Club) as
   an undergraduate will prevent the student from graduating in four
   years. Another common myth about the university is that nearly 50% of
   its students marry a fellow alumnus.

Scavenger Hunt

   The annual University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is a multi-day event in
   which large teams compete to obtain all of the notoriously esoteric
   items on a list. Held every May since 1987, it is considered to be the
   largest scavenger hunt in the world. Established by student Chris
   Straus, the "Scav Hunt", as it is known among University students, has
   become one of the university's most popular traditions and has
   typically pushed the boundaries of absurdity.

   Each year, the scavenger hunt list includes roughly 300 items, each
   with an assigned point value. The items vary widely and may involve
   performances, large-scale constructions, and long-distance travel in
   addition to traditional listings. Teams are generally expected to fall
   well short of completing half of the list and instead compete for total
   points amassed. The more difficult and time-consuming items earn more
   points. Notable past items include: a passport stamped by all members
   of the axis of evil, a nuclear reactor, a Calvinball tournament, a
   ninja muffin and a cell phone marching band. For more information
   regarding the Scavenger Hunt, see its official website.

Faculty and alumni

Presidents

   The quadrangles during wintertime.
   Enlarge
   The quadrangles during wintertime.

   For each president, the University of Chicago commissions a large
   portrait that is hung in Hutchinson Commons, located in the Reynolds
   Club, one of the university's central buildings. The presidents of the
   University of Chicago have been:
    1. William Rainey Harper, 1891-1906
    2. Harry Pratt Judson, 1906-1923
    3. Ernest DeWitt Burton, 1923-1925
    4. Max Mason, 1925-1928
    5. Robert Maynard Hutchins, 1929-1951
    6. Lawrence A. Kimpton, 1951-1960
    7. George W. Beadle, 1961-1968
    8. Edward H. Levi, 1968-1975
    9. John T. Wilson, 1975-1978
   10. Hanna Holborn Gray, 1978-1993
   11. Hugo F. Sonnenschein, 1993-2000
   12. Don Michael Randel, 2000-2006
   13. Robert J. Zimmer, 2006-present

Notable faculty and alumni

   Faculty, students, and researchers affiliated with the university have
   received a total of 79 Nobel Prizes. This total is the highest total
   claimed amongst all American universities, and second only to Cambridge
   University worldwide. Although there have been many Nobel laureates
   with strong ties to the University, the high count is principally
   because the University is exceptionally generous in deciding that a
   laureaute has an affiliation. According to the Los Angeles Times, "The
   University of Chicago is widely viewed as having the most expansive
   method of counting Nobel laureates." , and criticism began earlier with
   an article entitled "Nobel Prize Inflation Hits University of
   Chicago".For details, see Nobel Prize laureates by university
   affiliation.

   For a survey of other major awards earned by Chicago scholars, such as
   the Rhodes Scholarship, see the University’s news service report.

   Notable faculty and alumni of the University of Chicago include:
   political theorist Hannah Arendt; former U.S. Attorneys General John
   Ashcroft, Ramsey Clark, and Edward H. Levi; former Vice President of
   Taiwan and the Kuomintang Lien Chan..Nobel Prize-winning economists
   Gary Becker, Milton Friedman, and Friedrich Hayek; acclaimed Nobel
   Prize-winning writers Saul Bellow and J.M. Coetzee; current Governor of
   New Jersey and former U.S. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ); influential
   philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey; Nobel
   Prize-winning Modernist poet and dramatist T. S. Eliot, Nobel
   Prize-winning physicist and developer of the first nuclear reactor
   Enrico Fermi; composer Philip Glass; astronomer and pioneer of physical
   cosmology Edwin Hubble; Nobel Prize-winning experimental physicist and
   researcher of the photoelectric effect Robert Millikan; Academy
   Award-winning film director Mike Nichols; prominent philosophers Martha
   Nussbaum, Paul Ricoeur, Robert M. Pirsig and Leo Strauss; current U.S.
   Senator Barack Obama (D-IL); philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel
   Prize-winning writer Bertrand Russell; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
   Philip Roth; current judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals Richard Posner;
   astronomer and highly successful science popularizer Carl Sagan;
   influential anthropologist Marshall Sahlins; current U.S. Supreme Court
   justices Antonin Scalia and John Paul Stevens; novelist Kurt Vonnegut;
   and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and current head of the World
   Bank Paul Wolfowitz.

   Notable fictional faculty and alumni of the University of Chicago
   include: Harry Burns and Sally Albright (played by Billy Crystal and
   Meg Ryan) of the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally...(which begins at the
   University of Chicago); Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) of the
   Indiana Jones series; Robert and Hal (played by Anthony Hopkins and
   Jake Gyllenhaal) of the 2005 film Proof, which takes place at the
   University of Chicago; Jack McCoy (played by Sam Watterson), one of the
   two main characters in the long-running television series Law & Order;
   Dr. Josh Keyes (played by Aaron Eckhart) of the 2003 film The Core;
   Eddie Kasalivich (played by Keanu Reeves) of the 1996 film Chain
   Reaction; and Brandon Shaw and Philip Morgan (played by John Dall and
   Farley Granger) of Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope, based on the
   infamous University of Chicago duo Leopold and Loeb.

                              John Paul Stevens

                                Barack Obama

                               Paul Wolfowitz

                                Enrico Fermi

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