University of Chicago

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The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, UChi, or U of C) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

The university is composed of an undergraduate college and four graduate research divisions: the Arts & Humanities Division, the Biological Sciences Division, the Physical Sciences Division, and the Social Sciences Division, all of which include various organized departments and institutes. In addition, the university operates seven professional schools in the fields of business, social work, theology, public policy, law, medicine, and molecular engineering, and a school of continuing studies. The university maintains satellite campuses and centers in London, Hong Kong, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, Luxor, and downtown Chicago.

University of Chicago scholars have played a role in the development of many academic disciplines, including economics, law, literary criticism, mathematics, physics, religion, sociology, and political science, establishing the Chicago schools of thought in various fields. Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory produced the world's first human-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Chicago Pile-1 beneath the viewing stands of the university's Stagg Field. Advances in chemistry led to the "radiocarbon revolution" in the carbon-14 dating of ancient life and objects. The university research efforts include administration of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory, as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory. The university is also home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in North America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of 2025, the university's students, faculty, and staff have included 101 Nobel laureates. The university's faculty members and alumni also include 10 Fields Medalists, 4 Turing Award winners, 58 MacArthur Fellows, 30 Marshall Scholars, 55 Rhodes Scholars, 27 Pulitzer Prize winners, 20 National Humanities Medalists, and 8 Olympic medalists.

History

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Old University of Chicago

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A professor addressing a crowd
Albert A. Michelson, professor of physics and the first American Nobel laureate, delivers the second convocation address in front of Goodspeed and Gates-Blake Halls, with President William Rainey Harper, professors, and trustees in attendance, July 1, 1894.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The first University of Chicago was founded by a small group of Baptist educators and incorporated in 1857 after a land endowment from Senator Stephen A. Douglas and a fundraising campaign directed by the first president of the institution, John C. Burroughs.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Reference page It closed in 1886 after decades of financial struggle, exacerbated by the Great Chicago Fire and the Panic of 1873,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page when the university's property was foreclosed on by its creditors.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1890, its trustees elected to change the university's name to the "Old University of Chicago" so that the new university could go by the name of the city; a year later, the new university voted to recognize the alumni of the old as alumni of the new.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

Early years

Template:EB1911 poster In 1890, the American Baptist Education Society (ABES) incorporated a new University of Chicago as a coeducational institution,<ref name="goodspeed2">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp using $400,000 donated to the ABES to supplement a $600,000 donation from Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and land donated by Marshall Field.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page The Hyde Park campus’ construction was financed by donations from wealthy Chicagoans such as Silas B. Cobb, donor of the campus's first building, Cobb Lecture Hall;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Charles L. Hutchinson, trustee, treasurer and donor of Hutchinson Commons;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Martin A. Ryerson, president of the board of trustees and donor of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

William Rainey Harper became the university's president on July 1, 1891, and classes first began on October 1, 1892.<ref name="frederick2">Template:Cite book</ref> Harper offered large salaries to attract senior faculty,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page and in two years had a faculty of 120, including eight former university or college presidents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The undergraduate program was divided into two parts, with the first two years making up the Academic College, focusing on preparation for higher learning, and the last two years comprising the University College, with more advanced courses. The university operated on a quarter system, with 36 courses required to graduate.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Harper brought the Baptist seminary, which had historical ties to the Old University of Chicago, to the university. This became the Divinity School in 1891, the first graduate professional school at the University of Chicago.<ref name="goodspeed" />Template:Rp Harper was a supporter of intercollegiate athletics, recruiting Amos Alonzo Stagg in 1892 to coach the football team and defending athletics from faculty opposition.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1894, the university adopted maroon as its official color after initially selecting goldenrod. The Maroons became the university's nickname during the same year.<ref name=":72">Template:Cite web</ref> During this period, the university founded the university extension, which offered evening courses for adults and correspondence courses, and the University of Chicago Press.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

Rockefeller continued to provide significant contributions to the university after its founding. Harper's efforts to finance faculty research projects, expand the campus, and support university initiatives caused significant deficits covered by Rockefeller donations, with annual deficits between 1894 and 1903 averaging $215,000. In 1898, the board of trustees made a commitment to use new gifts to eliminate the deficit rather than to further expand programs, but structural deficits remained until after Harper's presidency.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

1906–1929

After Harper's death in 1906, the board of trustees named Harry Pratt Judson, head of the Department of Political Science, acting president; in 1907, the appointment was made permanent.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Judson initiated a policy of financial austerity, which renewed Rockefeller's confidence in the university and resulted in a series of large gifts to the endowment between 1906 and 1910, including a final gift of $10 million in 1910 that balanced the university's budget.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1911, the university adopted a Latin motto of Crescat scientia; vita excolatur, which translates to "Let knowledge grow from more and more; and so be human life enriched."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1912, Judson successfully encouraged the board to create a faculty pension fund.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

During World War I, Judson, as well as faculty members such as Albion Small and Paul Shorey, published works supporting the war. On the other hand, student reaction was mixed, with most not participating in newly formed voluntary military training programs such as the ROTC. In 1918, the Student Army Training Corps program was announced by the War Department, which requisitioned the campus to be run by army officers for military training, but the November armistice soon ended the program.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page After the war, the Oriental Institute, now the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, was founded by Egyptologist James Henry Breasted to support and interpret archeological work in what was then called the Near East.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1923, senior scholar Ernest D. Burton succeeded Judson as president.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Burton launched the first major fundraising campaign of the university to improve the research environment of the faculty as well as invest in residential halls for undergraduates, finding initial success despite faculty opposition to the perceived prioritization of undergraduate over graduate interests. Burton's sudden death in 1925 led to his replacement by physicist Max Mason, who ended the citywide fundraising drive early in favor of a quieter outreach among local businessmen.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page During Burton's term, and later Mason's, the Chicago Schools of thought began to emerge in the social sciences, with new organizations being established such as the Social Science Research Council in 1923.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

1929–1950

A group of people in suits standing in three rows on the steps in front of a stone building
Some of the University of Chicago team who worked on the production of the world's first human-caused self-sustaining nuclear reaction, including Enrico Fermi in the front row and Leó Szilárd in the second

In 1929, the 30-year-old dean of Yale Law School, Robert Maynard Hutchins, became president.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1930, Hutchins organized the graduate departments under four independent divisions and united the undergraduate colleges into one college.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1931, alongside dean of the college Chauncey Boucher, Hutchins implemented a new two-year general education curriculum called the "New Plan", which formed the basis for the university's core curriculum.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Later in the 1930s, Hutchins became unsatisfied with departmental influence on the undergraduate curriculum and pushed for further expansion to the general education curriculum.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1942, Hutchins transferred jurisdiction of the BA degree from the graduate divisions to the college, thus removing divisional leverage to shape the curriculum. The same year, the college reformed the BA degree with four years of prescribed general education.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

Budget shortfalls caused by the Great Depression led to significant austerity measures and staffing cuts, though Hutchins protected the salaries of those who remained. In 1933, Hutchins proposed a plan to alleviate the financial situation by merging the university with Northwestern University, though it was ultimately abandoned.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Financial woes contributed to the decision to end the university's football program in 1939.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page With substantial budget gaps remaining and support from the Rockefeller Foundation having dried up, a second major fundraising campaign was launched between 1939 and 1941 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the university's founding with mixed results.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Large deficits persisted after World War II, leaving future presidents to balance the budget.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

During the war, the university recruited a number of refugee scientists from Europe, including Enrico Fermi, Rudolf Carnap, and James Franck. The university's Metallurgical Laboratory contributed to the Manhattan Project, with Enrico Fermi engineering the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction at Stagg Field in 1942.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1945, Hutchins announced the formation of the Institute for Nuclear Studies and the Institute for the Study of Metals in order to continue work done during the war. These were later renamed the Enrico Fermi Institute and the James Franck Institute, respectively.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page The university came under public scrutiny before and after the war for alleged communist influence, with university leadership called to testify before the Illinois General Assembly on the loyalty of its student body and faculty in 1935 and 1949.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

1951–1977

In 1951, vice president of development Lawrence Kimpton succeeded Hutchins as chancellor,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page a position created in 1945 replacing the president as head of the university.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page The deficits left from Hutchins necessitated severe annual cuts in the operating budget, which was brought into balance by 1954. A fundraising campaign was launched the same year, which allowed for modest recovery,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page but the financial situation worsened after a decline in undergraduate enrollments.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1957, to attract more students, Kimpton reduced the general education curriculum from four years to two years. Furthermore, the graduate divisional faculty with slowly merged with the previously independent college faculty via joint appointments.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page To address safety concerns driven by increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood, the university became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park. Between 1954 and 1960, the university worked with the South East Chicago Commission and Mayor Richard J. Daley to clear approximately 925 acres of land, disproportionately affecting Black, low-income residents.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page File:Chicago Maroon (January 17, 1962).pdf In 1961, Caltech professor George Beadle was elected chancellor, resuming the title of president later that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Beadle's tenure saw large investments in faculty and campus expansion to rebuild the university after Kimpton's austerity, funded in large part by a $25 million grant provided by the Ford Foundation and an accompanying fundraising campaign.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1964, the undergraduate college was reorganized into five collegiate divisions, four paralleling the four graduate divisions and one interdisciplinary New Collegiate Division.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

In 1967, provost Edward Levi became president. His tenure saw a number of sit-ins at the administrative building: in 1962, over the university's segregationist off-campus rental policies;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in 1966 and 1967, over the university providing the class rank of students who sought deferments to draft boards; and in 1969, over the sociology's department decision not to rehire the openly Marxist assistant professor Marlene Dixon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1967, a university committee issued the Kalven Report, maintaining the university's duty to uphold academic freedom and remain non-partisan.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page The report has since been cited in university debates over divesting from South Africa and Sudan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as in the Chicago Principles on free speech,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page which a number of other universities have since adopted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By the 1970s, facing the end of the Ford Foundation's support, a reduction in enrollment due to insufficient student housing, flagging federal funding, and broader economic stagflation, the university faced more fiscal austerity.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1975, provost John Wilson was appointed president, balancing the budget once more through cuts.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

1978–present

In 1978, history scholar and provost of Yale, Hanna Holborn Gray, became president of the university. She was the first woman in the United States to be appointed to a full-term presidency of a major research university.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Still facing budgetary issues, Gray modernized the university's financial systems, increased the size and tuition of the undergraduate college, and paired campus expansion and renovation with administrative austerity. While budgetary equilibrium was reached through the mid-1980s, acute deficits soon re-emerged, exacerbated by the 1990-1992 recession.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page Gray also oversaw the implementation of a unified 21 course core curriculum across all collegiate divisions in 1985 and invested in student life through new food services, school festivals, and the reintroduction of varsity athletics.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

A view of neo-Gothic buildings in the background, with a grassy area in front
View from the Midway Plaisance

In 1992, economist Hugo F. Sonnenschein became president, facing projected deficits of $23 million for the 1995-96 budget and poor endowment growth.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page The raising of $676 million in a fundraising campaign for the university's centennial throughout the early 1990s helped alleviate these problems.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 1996, Sonnenschein proposed the expansion of the undergraduate college by 1,000 students to raise tuition revenue, and in 1997, backed a plan to reduce the number of required course in the core curriculum from 21 to 15–18 (depending on how a student met the language requirement). After intense debate, with the university becoming the focal point of a national debate on education, both reforms were approved.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page In 2000, Cornell University provost Don Michael Randel became the twelfth president of the university. His tenure was marked by increased support for the arts on campus, stronger outreach to local civic and business leaders, investments in major campus facilities, and the launch of a new $2 billion capital campaign.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page

In 2006, mathematician Robert J. Zimmer was appointed president, receiving board approval to take on large amounts of debt at low interest rates after the 2008 recession in order to finance a number of major projects.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page These included new buildings and pavilions, such as Mansueto Library in 2011, a reading room and book storage facility;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Logan Center for the Arts in 2012;<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page the Keller Center in 2019, home of the Harris School of Public Policy;<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page and Woodlawn Residential Commons in 2020, which houses 1,298 students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between 2008 and 2022, the university partnered with the city and outside businesses to launch three interventions along 53rd Street in an attempt to improve the neighborhood's economic condition.<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page As part of an effort to invest in its professional schools, the university formed the Becker Friedman Institute in 2011,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> acquired the Marine Biological Laboratory in 2013,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page repurposed the Crerar Library as the headquarters of the Department of Computer Science in 2018,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page and established the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The university also expanded its presence abroad, opening campuses in Hong Kong in 2018,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in London in 2022,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page and in Paris in 2024,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> alongside centers in Beijing in 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in Delhi in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite a $5.4 billion fundraising campaign started in 2014,<ref name=":02" />Template:Reference page university debt has exceeded initial planning expectations, reaching $6.3 billion in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, Zimmer was succeeded by Paul Alivisatos, then-provost of the University of California, Berkeley. In 2024, university students set up an encampment on the university's main quad<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as a part of the nationwide movement in support of Palestine at institutions of higher learning across the country. The encampment was later cleared by University of Chicago Police Department officers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Campus

Main campus

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The main campus of the University of Chicago consists of Template:Convert in the Chicago neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn, approximately Template:Convert south of downtown Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the Midway Plaisance, a large, linear park created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. In 2011, Travel+Leisure listed the university as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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A path in the grass leading towards a large, partially ivy-covered building
View of university building from the Harper Quadrangle

The first buildings of the campus, which make up what are now known as the Main Quadrangles, were part of a master plan conceived by two University of Chicago trustees and plotted by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb.<ref name="famousbldgs" /> The Main Quadrangles consist of six quadrangles, each surrounded by buildings, bordering one larger quadrangle.<ref name="goodspeed">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The buildings of the Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, Holabird & Roche, and other architectural firms in a mixture of the Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic styles, patterned on the colleges of the University of Oxford.<ref name="famousbldgs">Template:Cite book</ref> Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's Magdalen Tower,<ref name="mitchell">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and the university Commons, Hutchinson Hall, replicates Christ Church Hall.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the University of Chicago Quadrangles were selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A comparison between the similar architectures of Chicago's Mitchell Tower on the left and Oxford's Magdalen Tower on the right.
Many older buildings of the University of Chicago employ Collegiate Gothic architecture like that of the University of Oxford. For example, Chicago's Mitchell Tower (left) was modeled after Oxford's Magdalen Tower (right).

After the 1940s, the campus's Gothic style began to give way to modern styles.<ref name="famousbldgs" /> In 1955, Eero Saarinen was contracted to develop a second master plan, which led to the construction of buildings both north and south of the Midway, including the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle (a complex designed by Saarinen);<ref name="famousbldgs"/> a series of arts buildings;<ref name="famousbldgs"/> Edith Abbott Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Keller Center, which is home of the Harris School of Public Policy and was designed by Edward Durrell Stone;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Regenstein Library, the largest building on campus, a brutalist structure designed by Walter Netsch.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004,<ref name="twentytwenty">Template:Cite magazine</ref> produced the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center (2003),<ref name="twentytwenty"/> the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001),<ref name="famousbldgs"/> South Campus Residence Hall and dining commons (2009), a new children's hospital,<ref name="milestones">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and other construction, expansions, and restorations.<ref>The University of Chicago Magazine Template:Webarchive. Magazine.uchicago.edu. Retrieved on August 15, 2013.</ref> In 2011, the university completed the glass dome-shaped Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, which provides a grand reading room for the university library and prevents the need for an off-campus book depository.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The site of Chicago Pile-1 is a National Historic Landmark and is marked by the Henry Moore sculpture Nuclear Energy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright building acquired by the university in 1963, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,<ref>UNESCO World Heritage Site</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as well as a National Historic Landmark,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as is room 405 of the George Herbert Jones Laboratory, where Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were the first to isolate plutonium.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hitchcock Hall, an undergraduate dormitory, is on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nrhp">Template:Cite web Resource Name = Hitchcock, Charles, Hall; Reference Number = 74000751</ref>

Adjacent to the campus in Jackson Park is the home of the Obama Presidential Center, the Presidential Library for the 44th president of the United States<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with expected completion in 2026. The Obamas settled in the university's Hyde Park neighborhood, where they raised their children and where Barack Obama began his political career. Michelle Obama served as an administrator at the university and founded the university's Community Service Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Transportation

The Hyde Park campus is served by the CTA Red Line and Green Line, as well as by the Metra Electric District and South Shore Line commuter trains,<ref name=":73">Template:Cite web</ref> all of which provide access to downtown Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The campus is also served by a network of CTA bus routes.<ref name=":73" />

The university shuttle program includes daytime and nighttime routes, most of which operate within Hyde Park.<ref name=":82">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2022, the university added a Downtown Campus Connector to its shuttle program, which connects the main Hyde Park campus to the Gleacher Center and downtown UChicago Medicine clinics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, the university introduced a Via ride-sharing program ahead of the 2024–2025 school year, which provides unlimited free rides on campus in shared vans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Safety

In November 2021, a university graduate was robbed and fatally shot on a sidewalk in a residential area in Hyde Park near campus; a total of three University of Chicago students were killed by gunfire incidents in 2021.<ref name="Suspect Charged">Suspect Charged in Death of University of Chicago Student Template:Webarchive WTTW/Associated Press, November 13, 2021</ref><ref name="could be anyone">University of Chicago international students rally to demand safety upgrades a week after fatal shooting of recent grad. 'The next one ... could be anyone in this crowd.' Template:Webarchive PAIGE FRY, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, November 16, 2021</ref> These incidents prompted student protests and an open letter to university leadership signed by more than 300 faculty members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In response, the university introduced measures including increased foot and vehicular patrols near campus, expanded coordination between the university police department and the Chicago Police Department, and greater use of security cameras and license plate readers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university continues to maintain one of the largest private police forces in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Satellite campuses

A curved, glass walkway over a pavilion leading to a building
The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus, located at Mount Davis, Hong Kong

The university also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The university's Booth School of Business maintains campuses in Hong Kong, London, and downtown Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Center in Paris, a campus located on the left bank of the Seine in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university also maintains the Chicago House, based in Luxor, which serves as the Egyptian headquarters for the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In fall 2010, the university opened a center in Beijing, near Renmin University's campus in Haidian District. The most recent additions are a center in New Delhi, India, which opened in 2014,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a center in Hong Kong which opened in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2024, the university opened the John W. Boyer Center in Paris, designed by architectural firm Studio Gang and nearly tripling the size of the Center in Paris which had opened in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Academics

A large gate, with students walking through
The University of Chicago Main Quadrangles, looking north

The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the college, four divisions of graduate research, seven professional schools, and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university also contains a library system, the University of Chicago Press, and the University of Chicago Medical Center, and oversees several laboratories, including the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Marine Biological Laboratory.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.<ref name="collegenavigator">Template:Cite web</ref> It is a member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Universities Research Association.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university runs on a quarter system in which the academic year is divided into four terms: Summer (June–August), Autumn (September–December), Winter (January–March), and Spring (March–June).<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref> Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for approximately ten weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in early June.<ref name=":10" />

Undergraduate college

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The campus in winter, with snow covering the ground
Harper Memorial Library was dedicated in 1912, and its architecture takes inspiration from various colleges in England.

The College of the University of Chicago grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 51 undergraduate courses of study<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (since 2005 known as majors) and 33 secondary courses of study, now known as minors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college's academics are divided into four divisions: the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division, the Social Sciences Collegiate Division, and the Humanities Collegiate Division. Each division is affiliated with the corresponding graduate division of the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The college introduced a now-widespread model of the liberal arts undergraduate program which featured the Socratic method in undergraduate contexts, the Great Books program, and the core curriculum.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since the 1999–2000 school year, 15 courses across seven subjects and demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language are required under the core curriculum.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref>

A large building
Eckhart Hall houses the university's math department.

Graduate schools and committees

The university graduate schools and committees are divided into four divisions (biological sciences, humanities, physical sciences, and social sciences), seven professional schools, and the Graham School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the autumn quarter of 2022, the university enrolled 10,546 graduate students on degree-seeking courses: 569 in the biological sciences division, 612 in the humanities division, 2,103 in the physical sciences division, 972 in the social sciences division, and 6,290 in the professional schools (including the Graham School).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Research

Bird's-eye view of a large circular shape inscribed into a grassy area
Aerial view of Fermilab, a science research laboratory co-managed by the University of Chicago

According to the National Science Foundation, the University of Chicago spent $423.9 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 60th in the nation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is a founding member of the Association of American Universities, and was a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation between 1946 and 2016, when the group's name was changed to the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The University of Chicago is not a member of the rebranded consortium, but continues to be a collaborator.<ref name="btaa_chicago">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university operates more than 140 research centers and institutes on campus. Among these are the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa—a museum and research center for Near Eastern studies owned and operated by the university—and a number of National Resource Centers, including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Chicago also operates or is affiliated with several research institutions apart from the university proper. The university manages the Argonne National Laboratory, part of the United States Department of Energy's national laboratory system, and co-manages the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a nearby particle physics laboratory.<ref name=":5" /> It was also part of the Astrophysical Research Consortium that constructed the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Faculty and students at the adjacent Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago collaborate with the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, the university formed an affiliation with the formerly independent Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.<ref>Marine Biological Laboratory to affiliate with University of Chicago – Health & wellness Template:Webarchive. The Boston Globe (June 12, 2013). Retrieved on August 15, 2013.</ref> The National Opinion Research Center maintains an office at the Hyde Park campus and is affiliated with multiple academic centers and institutes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ivy-colored building with various shades of color
University of Chicago building during fall

The University of Chicago has been the site of various experiments and academic movements. The university has played a role in shaping ideas about the free market<ref>Kasper, Sherryl (2002) The Revival of Laissez-Faire in American Macroeconomic Theory: A Case Study of Its Pioneers. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Template:ISBN</ref> and is the namesake of the Chicago school of economics, the school of economic thought supported by Milton Friedman and other economists. The university's sociology department was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the Chicago school of sociology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university was the site of the Chicago Pile-1 (the first controlled, self-sustaining human-made nuclear chain reaction, part of the Manhattan Project), of Robert Millikan's oil-drop experiment that calculated the charge of the electron,<ref name="oildrop">Template:Cite web</ref> and of the development of radiocarbon dating by Willard F. Libby in 1946.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The chemical experiment that tested how life originated on early Earth, the Miller–Urey experiment, was also conducted at the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> REM sleep was discovered at the university in 1953 by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics operated the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin from 1897 until 2018,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where the largest operating refracting telescope in the world and other telescopes are located.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Professional schools

The university contains seven professional schools and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.

From 1928 to 1989, the University of Chicago Graduate Library School was the graduate-level librarianship school at the University of Chicago. It was established in 1928 to develop a program for the graduate education of librarians with a focus on research.<ref>Association of American Library Schools. New Frontiers in Librarianship; Proceedings of the Special Meeting of the Association of American Library Schools and the Board of Education for Librarianship of the American Library Association in Honor of the University of Chicago and the Graduate Library School, December 30, 1940. [Chicago]: The Graduate library school, the University of Chicago, 1941.</ref> Housed for a time in the Joseph Regenstein Library, the Graduate Library School closed in 1989 when the University of Chicago decided to promote information studies instead of professional education.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Associated academic institutions

A large building
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private day school run by the university

The university runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools. It operates the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (a private day school for K-12 students and day care),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a public charter school with three campuses on the South Side of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> maintains a location on the University of Chicago campus. Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies, which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university also operates the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in North America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Library system

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The interior of the reading room of the library, with tables and lamps on either side of the hall
University of Chicago, Harper Library

The University of Chicago Library system encompasses six libraries that contain a total of 11 million volumes, the 9th most among library systems in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university's primary library is the Regenstein Library, which contains over 4.5 million print volumes on a variety of subjects and is the largest on campus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, built in 2011, houses a large study space and an automated book storage and retrieval system.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The John Crerar Library contains more than 1.4 million volumes in the biological, medical and physical sciences and collections in general science and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, and technology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university also operates a number of special libraries, including the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Administration Library, and the Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science.<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="petersons">Template:Cite web</ref> The Harper Memorial Library, the first library of the university, is now a reading and study room.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arts

A large building
The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, opened in 2012

The University of Chicago Arts program joins academic departments in the Division of the Arts & Humanities and the undergraduate College, student art programs, and professional organizations including the Court Theatre, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, the Smart Museum of Art, and the Renaissance Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university offers graduate degrees in music, cinema and media studies, visual arts, and the humanities, among other subjects.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also offers bachelor's degree programs in visual arts, music, art history, cinema and media studies, and theater and performance studies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Several thousand major and non-major undergraduates enroll annually in creative and performing arts classes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university was home to the improvisational Compass Players student comedy troupe, which evolved into The Second City in 1959.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university has an artist-in-residence program, which has supported over 32 individual artists as of May 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts opened in 2012. It was financed by a $35 million gift from alumnus David Logan and his wife Reva, the single largest cash gift to the arts in the city of Chicago as of 2025. The center includes spaces for exhibitions, performances, classes, and media production.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reputation and rankings

Template:Infobox US university ranking

The University of Chicago is considered one of the most prestigious research universities in the United States.<section begin="reputation" reference="" /><ref name="reputation"> Characterizations of the reputation of the University of Chicago:

</ref><section end="reputation" reference="" />The Academic Ranking of World Universities has consistently placed the University of Chicago among the top 10 universities in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2026, the university was ranked 6th by US News & World Report and 13th by Forbes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, QS World University Rankings placed the university in 13th place worldwide, while THE World University Rankings ranked the university in a tie for 14th.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university's law and business schools consistently rank among the top three professional schools in the United States. In 2025, the business school was placed in second out of 77 American schools by Bloomberg,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> fourth in the US by US News & World Report,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and second by Fortune.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, it was placed fifteenth in the world by QS World University Rankings and seventeenth by the Financial Times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, the law school was ranked third in the United States by US News & World Report and second by Above the Law.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, it was ranked 11th globally by QS World University Rankings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Administration and finance

Template:See also

A professional photo of Paul Alivisatos smiling at the camera
Paul Alivisatos, University of Chicago president

The university is governed by a board of trustees. The board oversees the long-term development and plans of the university and manages fundraising efforts, and is composed of 55 members including the university president.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Directly beneath the president are the provost, fourteen vice presidents, including the chief financial officer and chief investment officer, and twelve deans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current chair of the board of trustees is David Rubenstein, who has occupied the position since May 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current provost is Katherine Baicker, who was appointed in March 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current president of the University of Chicago is chemist Paul Alivisatos, who assumed the role on September 1, 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university's endowment was the 21st largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2024, valued at roughly $10.1 billion.<ref name="NACUBO">Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2016, the university's board of trustees has resisted pressure from students and faculty to divest its investments from fossil fuel companies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, such investments remain a part of the university's endowment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In fall 2023, the university employed 3,418 academic staff and 23,217 administrative staff, including those from the medical center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, the university's combined annual budget, including the university proper, the medical center, and the marine biological laboratory, stood at $5.2 billion, with the university's operations making up an additional $2.6 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, the university's total assets were valued at $20.3 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Part of the financial plan for the university by former university president Robert Zimmer was an increase in accumulation of debt to finance large building projects.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This drew both support and criticism from many in the university community.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, the university budget deficit stood at $288 million despite liquidating assets to cover the gap; the administration announced plans in November of that year to close the deficit over the next four years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref> The financial strain has caused the university to increase its student-faculty ratio, reduce the proportion of classes taught by research faculty, and spend an unusually high percentage of undergraduate tuition on servicing debt.<ref name=":9" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the summer of 2025, the university announced more than $100 million in budget cuts across capital projects, hiring, and graduate admissions in a response to the growing university deficit, less federal funding, and uncertainty about international student admissions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Clear

Student body and admissions

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In fall 2024, the university enrolled 7,569 undergraduate students, 10,968 graduate students, and 750 non-degree students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college class of 2025 is composed of 53% male and 47% female students. Twenty-seven percent of the class identify as Asian, 19% as Hispanic, and 10% as Black. Eighteen percent of the class is international.<ref name="collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu">Template:Cite web</ref> The university is need-blind for domestic applicants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Admission to the University of Chicago has become highly selective over the past two decades, reflecting changes in the application process, school popularity, and marketing strategy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between 1996 and 2023, the acceptance rate of the college fell from 71% to 4.7%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The middle 50% band of SAT scores for the undergraduate class of 2025 was 1510–1570 (98th–99th percentiles),<ref name="collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu" /> the average MCAT score for students entering the Pritzker School of Medicine class of 2024 was 519 (97th percentile),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the median GMAT score for students entering the full-time Booth MBA program class of 2023 was 740 (97th percentile),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the median LSAT score for students entering the Law School class of 2021 was 172 (99th percentile).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018, the University of Chicago attracted national headlines by becoming the first major research university to no longer require SAT or ACT scores from college applicants.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Athletics

Logo of the Maroons
Official athletics logo

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The University of Chicago hosts 19 varsity sports teams: 10 men's teams and 9 women's teams, all called the Maroons, with 502 students participating in the 2012–2013 school year.<ref name="sportsfacts">Template:Cite web</ref> The Maroons compete in the NCAA Division III as members of the University Athletic Association (UAA).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Their mascot is Phil the Phoenix.<ref name=":72"/>

The university was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball and football.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1935, the University of Chicago reached the Sweet Sixteen.<ref name="sportsfacts"/> In 1935, Chicago Maroons football player Jay Berwanger became the first winner of the Heisman Trophy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, the university chose to withdraw from the Big Ten Conference in 1946 after University president Robert Maynard Hutchins de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939 and dropped football.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1969, Chicago reinstated football as a Division III team, resuming play at the new Stagg Field.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The University of Chicago is home to the University of Chicago Rugby Football Club (UCRFC).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2022, men's rugby competes in the Division II Great Midwest Conference (MWC) under National Collegiate Rugby, having previously competed under USA Rugby. It was ranked 15th in the country at the end of the 2024 fall 15s season, falling to Montana State 19–48 in the Sweet Sixteen NCR DII playoff round. It competes in a Rugby 7s circuit in the spring. It shares its conference with Loyola University Chicago, the University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern University (for which it competes in a yearly cup, the Hutchins-Scott Cup), DePaul University, and Benedictine University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A women's club also exists at the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university is also home to the ultimate frisbee team UChicago Fission.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Student life

Student body composition as of May 10, 2025
Race and ethnicity<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Total
White Template:Bartable
Asian Template:Bartable
Foreign national Template:Bartable
Hispanic Template:Bartable
OtherTemplate:Efn Template:Bartable
Black Template:Bartable
Economic diversity
Low-incomeTemplate:Efn Template:Bartable

Student organizations

Students at the University of Chicago operate more than 400 clubs and organizations known as Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These include cultural and religious groups, academic clubs and teams, and common-interest organizations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Among notable student organizations are the nation's longest continuously running student film society Doc Films,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="FilmNews">Template:Cite journal</ref> the organizing committee for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, and the weekly student newspaper The Chicago Maroon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A large building
The university's Reynolds Club, the student center

Student government

All recognized student organizations are funded by the University of Chicago Student Government. Student Government consists of graduate and undergraduate students elected to represent members from their respective academic units.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is led by an executive committee, chaired by a president with the assistance of two vice presidents (one for administration and the other for student life) who are elected together as a slate by the student body each spring. Template:As of, the Undergraduate Student Government annual budget was greater than $2.5 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fraternities and sororities

Template:As of, there were more than 20 Greek organizations operating on campus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to a 2016 Maroon article, 19.6% of undergraduates were members of fraternities or sororities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Student housing

An orange brick building with pink window frames and a blue roof
Max Palevsky Residential Commons is a dormitory completed in 2001 designed by postmodernist Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta.

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On-campus undergraduate students at the University of Chicago participate in a house system in which each student is assigned to one of the university's seven residence hall buildings and to a smaller community within their residence hall called a "house". There are 48 houses, with an average of 80 students in each house.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The houses are named after former professors and other historical figures in the university community, such as Eugene Fama.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Students are required to live in on-campus housing for the first six quarters of enrollment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of the 2024–2025 school year, 58% of undergraduate students live on campus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The university owns and manages more than 300 residential units near campus for graduate students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Traditions

A group of students in front of six shopping carts that have been decorated; there is a student wearing a helmet in each one
Qwazy Quad Rally, Scav Hunt 2005

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Every May since 1987, the University of Chicago has held the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, in which teams of students compete to obtain notoriously esoteric items from a list.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> Every January, the university holds a week-long winter festival, Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko (Kuvia), which includes early morning exercise routines and fitness workshops.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university also annually holds a carnival and concert called Summer Breeze,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which hosts outside musicians and is home to Doc Films, a student film society founded in 1932 that screens films nightly at the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 1946, the university has organized the Latke-Hamantash Debate, which involves humorous discussions about the relative merits and meanings of latkes and hamantashen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2002, the Ida Noyes Pub has hosted Trivia Nights for university affiliates each Tuesday.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

People

Template:Main listSince the university's establishment in 1890, there have been 101 Nobel laureates across all six categories affiliated with the University of Chicago,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 21 of whom were pursuing research or on faculty at the university at the time of their award announcement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of these 101 Nobel Prizes, 30 were in Physics, 19 in Chemistry, 13 in Physiology/Medicine, 3 in Literature, 1 in Peace, and 31 in Economics. Chicago faculty and alumni also include ten Fields Medalists,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> seventeen National Medal of Science recipients,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> four Turing Award winners,<ref>

</ref> fifty-eight MacArthur Fellows,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> five John Bates Clark Medalists,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> thirty Marshall Scholars,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> fifty-five Rhodes Scholars,<ref name="Rhodes">Template:Cite web</ref> twenty-seven Pulitzer Prize winners,<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> twenty National Humanities Medalists,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> and eight Olympic medalists.Template:Multiple image Chicago alumni have gone on to become notable in several fields. In particular, alumni include CEOs of firms such as Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse;<ref>

</ref> six heads of state or government across five continents;<ref>

</ref> eight U.S. Cabinet Secretaries;<ref>

</ref> ten U.S. Senators;<ref>

</ref> four central bank Presidents or Directors, including the World Bank;<ref>

</ref> one U.S. Supreme Court justice;<ref>

</ref> and presidents of Princeton, Northwestern, and MIT.<ref>

</ref>

Notable faculty include three Supreme Court Justices, one central bank governor, and numerous Nobel Prize laureates. Former U.S. president Barack Obama,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> poet T.S. Eliot,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and writer Ralph Ellison<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> all served on the faculty.

In pop culture

The University of Chicago is the alma mater of fictional characters Harry Burns and Sally Albright (from When Harry Met Sally), Indiana Jones, and Mark Watney (from The Martian). It has served as filming locations for scenes in Divergent, The Fugitive, and Sense8.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Abe Ravelstein, the titular character of the novel Ravelstein, was based on UChicago faculty member Allan Bloom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notes

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References

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Further reading

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