rorities[edit] There are fourteen fraternities and seven sororities at the University of Chicago,[120] as well as one co-ed community ser

Main article: Chicago Maroons
UChicago Maroons.svg
The University of Chicago hosts 19 varsity sports teams: 10 men's teams and 9 women's teams,[116] all called the Maroons, with 585 students participating in the 2008–2009 school year.[116]
The Maroons compete in the NCAA's Division III as members of the University Athletic Association (UAA). The university was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and participated in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball and Football and was a regular participant in the Men's Basketball tournament. In 1935, the University of Chicago reached the Sweet Sixteen.[116] However, the university chose to withdraw from the conference in 1946 after University President Robert Maynard Hutchins de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939 and dropped football.[117] (In 1969, Chicago reinstated football as a Division III team, resuming playing its home games at the new Stagg Field.)
Student life[edit]



The university's Reynolds Club, the student center
Student organizations[edit]
Students at the University of Chicago run over 400 clubs and organizations known as Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs).[118][119] These include cultural and religious groups, academic clubs and teams, and common-interest organizations.[119] Among notable RSOs are the nation's longest continuously running student film society Doc Films, organizing committee for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, the twice-weekly student newspaper The Chicago Maroon, the alternative weekly student newspaper the Chicago Weekly, the nation's second oldest continuously running student improvisational theater troupe Off-Off Campus, and the university-owned radio station WHPK-FM.
Fraternities and sororities[edit]
There are fourteen fraternities and seven sororities at the University of Chicago,[120] as well as one co-ed community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega.[121] Four of the sororities are members of the National Panhellenic Conference,[122] and ten of the fraternities form the University of Chicago Interfraternity Council.[123] In 2002, the Associate Director of Student Activities estimated that 8–10 percent of undergraduates were members of fraternities or sororities.[122] The student activities office has used similar figures, stating that one in ten undergraduates participate in Greek life.[120]
Student housing[edit]
An orange brick building with pink window frames and a blue roof

Max Palevsky Residential Commons, a dormitory constructed in 2001 designed by postmodernist Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta
Main article: Housing at the University of Chicago
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 10 residence hall buildings and to a smaller community within their residence hall called a "house". There are 35 houses, with an average of 70 students in each house[124] Freshmen are required to participate in the house system, and housing is guaranteed every year thereafter.[125] About 60% of undergraduate students live on campus.[125]
For graduate students, the university owns and operates 28 apartment buildings near campus.[126]
Traditions[edit]


Qwazy Quad Rally, Scav Hunt 2005, item #38
Main articles: Doc Films, Summer Breeze (concert), and University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt
Every May since 1987, the University of C