Matriculations

A Home Away from Home
The growth of the residence hall system and its increasing dispersal away from the Quadrangles prompted the University to take steps in the 1960s to improve the community life of students. Harkening back to the original house system under President Harper, the larger residence halls were divided by floors into "houses" of forty to sixty students, each with its own resident head and student council. Beginning in the fall of 1970, the administration of President Edward H. Levi invited senior faculty members and their spouses to move into the halls as resident masters. Living in close proximity to students, the resident masters encouraged the development of cultural and social activities in the halls and arranged visits by other faculty members and guests to the campus

Today there are thirty-nine houses in twelve residence halls (all co-ed) for which seven senior faculty or administrators serve as resident masters. Over two-thirds of the undergraduates live in the residence hall system. The co-ed environment, which the University began to offer in 1970, would have surprised Harper, but he would be pleased that the University has continued to provide students with a common social experience.

Traditions
There was no time for traditions to evolve. Students chose to attend the University of Chicago for its promise of a superior education, but they also wanted a complete educational institution with traditions, campus songs, and slogans. This presented obvious problems for a university which had just opened its doors, but the students made a conscious effort to "establish rituals unique to Chicago." T. G. Soares (PhD 1896) noted that "the suggestion was made that any person desiring to establish a tradition should present the same in writing, and, after lying on the table for two weeks, it could be established by a two-thirds vote - so hungry were we for traditions in those days."