The quadrangles of the University of Chicago in winter.
The University of Chicago is one of the world's foremost universities, known for its rigorous devotion to academic scholarship and intellectual life. In the early 1950s, Nicolas de Brabant (better known today as Nick Knight) was working there as an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology. At that time, he was using the name Nicholas Girard.
During the 1950s, there was much worry in the United States about the influence of communism on American life, with the field of education as a particular concern, given the potential for influence over young people. As shown in the flashback to the episode "Spin Doctor", Prof. Girard was called to testify at one of the Senate hearings. Although not a member of the Communist Party, he was forced to rely on the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in order to avoid answering questions—not on his politics, but on his keeping blood at home. He could not, of course, admit that he did so because he was a vampire. As a result, he lost his job.
History of the University of Chicago[]
The University of Chicago's Harper Memorial Library.
Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its establishment to the oil magnate and benefactor John D. Rockefeller. It traditionally dates its founding to 1 July 1891.
The University of Chicago was one of the first universities in the United States to be conceived as a combination of an American liberal arts college and a German research university. The university's undergraduate college consistently ranks among the country's top ten national universities.
The campus is bisected by the Midway Plaisance, a large linear park created for the 1893 World's Fair. While the bulk of the campus is located north of the Midway, some of the professional schools are to the south. The quadrangles of the main campus feature a botanical garden and neo-Gothic buildings constructed mostly out of limestone in the late nineteenth century. These were deliberately patterned after the layouts of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Contemporary buildings have attempted to complement the style of the original architecture.
Snell and Hitchcock Halls are the oldest residence halls still in use on the University of Chicago campus.
The University of Chicago also maintains a number of satellite facilities apart from its main campus.
The University of Chicago currently maintains twelve units: the undergraduate College, four divisions of graduate research, six professional schools, and the Graham School of General Studies. The university also operates the Library, the University of Chicago Press, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (from day care through high school), and a number of off-campus scientific research institutions
Undergraduate students at the University of Chicago are required to take a core curriculum in a broad range of academic disciplines, the goal of which is to impart an education that is both timeless and a vehicle for interdisciplinary debate. The college runs on a quarter system, instead of the traditional semester system followed in many other universities.
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article on the University of Chicago.