Student Life

Living Accomodations

The University of Chicago provides a variety of living options for its graduate students. For single students, the choices include International House, Neighborhood Student Apartments, and the New Graduate Residence Hall. For married students, or students with a domestic partner, Neighborhood Student Apartments offers apartment arrangements suitable for couples and families.

International House

The International House of Chicago was founded in 1932 through a gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It is a coeducational residence for students from around the world. Each year, the House accommodates over 500 graduate and advanced undergraduate (third and fourth year students) residents--about half from countries other than the United States--who are pursuing academic and professional degrees, preparing in the creative or performing arts, or training with international firms at Chicago institutions. International House promotes understanding and friendship among students of diverse national, cultural and social backgrounds, provides facilities that can benefit social and cultural development of its residents, and serves as a center of cultural exchange between international students and the greater Chicago community. The building is designed to facilitate informal daily interactions among residents--in the House's dining room, Tiffin Room, courtyard, library and television lounges. These interactions make a major contribution to achieving the goals of the House. International House seeks residents who are willing to share their time and talent with the House community through its programs and activities. Scholarships and fellowships are available. All inquiries should be addressed to the Residence Manager, International House, 1414 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone (773) 753-2280, fax (773) 753-1227 or e-mail pmaslows@midway.uchicago.edu.

Neighborhood Student Apartments

The University owns and operates over 1100 apartments in 29 buildings located around and within the campus area. Graduate students who are single, married, or in a domestic partnership, and who are registered and making normal progress towards their degrees are eligible to live in Neighborhood Student Apartments. Apartment sizes range from efficiency units to large three bedroom apartments, furnished or unfurnished, in walk-up or elevator buildings. Parking lots are available at some buildings. Options for single students include single occupancy and shared apartments. Couples with children are given priority for the two and three bedroom apartments. Inquiries should be addressed to Neighborhood Student Apartments, 5316 South Dorchester Ave., Chicago, IL 60615, telephone (773) 753-2218.

The University of Chicago House System provides residential living for undergraduate students, and, in the New Graduate Residence Hall, for students in the professional schools of Law and Business. Housing at New Graduate Residence Hall is available only for students in their first year of study at the University. Students who wish to remain in University housing after their first year should make arrangements with Neighborhood Student Apartments or with International House.

Additional information on housing options, including current costs, is sent to all newly admitted students.

Private Housing

The private housing market in the neighborhood around the university is generally very tight. Students interested in private housing should plan to look for accommodations well in advance of the start of school. The University does not have an off-campus housing office, nor does it maintain listings of inspected and approved private housing. Students who prefer housing outside the University's system must come to Chicago to secure accommodations as it is virtually impossible to obtain private housing by telephone or through the mail.

University of Chicago Student Health Care

Student Health Fee

All registered students must pay the Student Health Fee, which covers services at the Student Care Center (SCC) and the Student Counseling and Resource Center. The Student Health Fee will be waived only for those students who live and study over 100 miles from campus and who will not be on campus during the quarter. Student need to petition their area Dean of Students to receive this waiver.

There are no other grounds for a health fee waiver.

Health Insurance Requirement

The University requires all students to carry adequate medical insurance to cover, among other costs, hospitalization and outpatient diagnostic and surgical procedures. The insurance requirement may be satisfied in one of two ways:

1. Enrollment in the Student Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan offered by the University, or

2. Completion of the insurance waiver form certifying that the student has insurance coverage comparable to the Student Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan.

Automatic Enrollment

Students who fail to complete an insurance application/waiver form by the requisite deadline each quarter will be automatically enrolled in the University's Student Accident and Sickness Basic Plan and will be billed for that enrollment. Students approved to register after the deadline must submit an insurance application/waiver form at registration time. Failure to do so will result in automatic enrollment in the Basic Plan.

For further information about enrollment, contact the Student Insurance Assistant, Registrar's Office, Room 103, 5801 Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone (773) 702Ð7877. For information about benefits under the plan, contact the University of Chicago Campus Insurance Coordinator at (773) 834-4543 or Chickering Claims Administrators, Inc., at (800) 294-9410. Students may also submit questions via e-mail to sasi@chickering.uchicago.edu or by e-mail via Chickering's Web site at www.chickering.com .

Eligibility

The Student Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan is available to all registered students, except for students in Extended Residence, in part-time Graduate School of Business programs, and the evening School of Social Service Administration program. Students may elect the Basic or Advantage Plan. The Basic Plan is also available at additional cost to a student's spouse or registered same-sex domestic partner, and to any unmarried children 19 or younger (children under 23 are eligible if they are full-time students).

Immunization Requirements

By State of Illinois law, all new students are required to present proof of immunity from German measles, measles (two shots required), mumps, and tetanus/diphtheria (three shots required for foreign students). The Student Care Center notifies all new students of the requirement and provides instructions for compliance. During the fourth week of the first quarter of enrollment, students who are not yet compliant are informed by their area dean of students that their subsequent registration will be restricted if they have not completed the requirement by the eighth week of the quarter. A student who receives this notification is urged to call the Immunization Office at 773-702-9975 to resolve their status.

Restricted students will lose on-line access to grades as well as access to University libraries, athletic facilities, and health services, among other things. Restricted students will be required to leave the University if the restriction is not cleared by the fifth week of the second quarter. Students required to leave will not receive credit for work done through the end of the fifth week of the quarter. Students living in undergraduate dormitories will be required to leave the University House System.

Child Care

A wide variety of day-care and baby-sitting options are available in the Hyde Park-South Kenwood area. Students with children, especially those who live in University housing, frequently form cooperative day-care networks in their buildings. Many graduate student spouses provide baby-sitting in their homes and advertise their services on campus bulletin boards. There are many fine nursery schools in Hyde Park, including one run by the University. The University of Chicago helps employees and students find childcare through two main sources: (1) The Day Care Action Council, a resource and referral agency; and (2) An on-campus childcare coordinator. Their referral services are free of charge.

The Day Care Action Council (DCAC). DCAC is a private, not-for-profit agency, which operates a resource and referral service. The University has contracted with DCAC to help you locate arrangements for your children. The Day Care Action Council can be reached by phone at (773) 564-8890 or by e-mail at childcare@daycareaction.org.

On-Campus Child Care Coordinator. The On-Campus Childcare Coordinator can assist you with your childcare needs. The coordinator works in the Benefits Office as a liaison between the University and DCAC. The coordinator also maintains a list of members of the University community who are interested in providing childcare. The coordinator is located in the Benefits Counseling Office, Bookstore Building 3rd floor, and can be reached by phone at (773) 702-9634 or by e-mail at benefits@uchicago.edu.

It is important to remember that the On-Campus Childcare Coordinator and the Day Care Action Council are referral services only and do not recommend or endorse any particular provider.

Hyde Park has excellent public, private, and parochial schools. Registration for public schools is based on neighborhood boundaries unless the school is a magnet school (open to children city wide) or unless a permit to attend is granted by the school. To ensure a place in a private or parochial school, enroll as early as possible (most schools are full by late summer).

For further information on nursery, elementary, and secondary schools, write to Office of Graduate Affairs, Admin. 229, 5801 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone (773) 702-7813.

Student Activities

With more than 275 University-wide student organizations and the many organizations in the schools and divisions there are countless ways for you to get involved in campus life.

In 2001-2002, every graduate and professional student in the University pays a quarterly activities fee of $32. The funds collected support student activities, including large-scale entertainment events and programs with an all-university focus that are mounted by student organizations. Thirty-eight percent of the funds collected from graduate students are allocated to the elected graduate student council in each division and school; these councils decide how to allocate their funds for the benefit of students in their academic area. Funds are also allocated to the Graduate Coordinating Council which is made up of the heads of each area graduate student council.

In addition to meeting to discuss issues which are important to graduate students, the Council plans activities designed to encourage interaction between each academic area including quarterly mixers, wine tasting classes, and other activities. The Office of Reynolds Club & Student Activities (ORCSA) maintains a website, www-studentactivities.uchicago.edu. that provides information on: campus events, student organizations you can get involved in, starting a new student organization, and the other services ORCSA provides.

Religious Life

A rich diversity of spiritual communities is represented among the student body, faculty and staff of the University. Together they create a wide variety of religious programming that is open to all who are interested. Through the arts, worship, social action and scriptural study they seek to engage the life of the spirit with the life of the mind.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is the center of religious activity for the wider University. Its staff both supports the programs of the specific religious groups and itself creates programming of interest to the entire community. World renowned musicians, clergy, scholars, performers and activists challenge the University to envision more expansively the role of religion and the bounds of the sacred. Community service projects encourage students to give concrete expression to their faith convictions. Interreligious dialogue enables each participant to learn more about his or her own tradition by encountering another.

The independent religious organizations on campus are responsible for innumerable opportunities to be invigorated by worship and nurtured through fellowship with those of one's own spiritual community. Cooperation flourishes among these organizations. Mutual projects for social uplift, conversations on the most substantive issues to confront people of faith in our time--these activities and many more challenge each spiritual seeker to define for him or herself the path of greatest religious integrity.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel serves as the liaison to the University for each religious organization. Some groups maintain houses on the periphery of campus, others are attached to local places of worship, and still others meet independently in Ida Noyes Hall or elsewhere. A helpful description of many of them can also be found in Religion on the Quadrangles, available at www.uchicago.edu/docs/religion. Alison Boden serves as Dean of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. The Chapel offices are open daily to help students make their own meaningful connections with religious life on campus. The telephone number is (773) 702-9202.

The University Ecumenical Service is held in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at 11:00 am every Sunday, except for the weeks between summer Convocation and the arrival of new students in September. The Chapel Choir sings at the weekly services. Organ, choir and carillon recitals are frequent and open to all. Special services are held throughout the year in observance of significant religious and national holidays and anniversaries. During the Fall, Winter and Spring quarters, the Divinity School and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel sponsor an ecumenical service that takes place from 11:30 to noon each Wednesday at the Joseph Bond Chapel on the main Quadrangle. There is also a diversity of religious groups in the neighborhood of the University that welcome student participation in their programs and worship.

Athletics and Recreational Facilities

Graduate students at the University have a wide range of opportunities to participate in fifty-four intramural activities each year, club sports, and instructional classes. All indoor and outdoor athletic facilities are open throughout the year to all students displaying a facility pass. Spouses and domestic partners of students have access to facilities for a yearly fee. The athletic program provides men and women opportunities for instruction and participation in sports such as archery, badminton, gymnastics, handball, martial arts, racquetball, rowing, squash, sailing, swimming, table tennis, track and field, and weight lifting. There are also over 725 intramural teams and forty-two Sports Clubs participating in a wide variety of activities, including volleyball, soccer, softball, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee.

The Henry Crown Field House is the University's primary indoor athletic and recreational facility. A complete remodeling in 1980 and an extensive renovation of the Fitness Center in 1992 have made the Field House into a comprehensive modern facility.

Security

The University Police Department operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on the campus and throughout the Hyde Park-South Kenwood neighborhood—the area bounded by 47th Street, 63rd Street, Evans Avenue, and Lake Shore Drive. (The University and the City are discussing plans to expand the boundaries in fall 2001.) Officers are armed and fully empowered to make arrests in accordance with the requirements of the Illinois Law Enforcement Officers Training Board and consistent with Illinois state statutes. University Police and the City of Chicago Police Department work together by monitoring each other’s calls within the University Police’s coverage area. University Police headquarters is located at 5555 South Ellis Avenue.

There are 242 white emergency phones in the area located on thoroughfares heavily trafficked by pedestrians. Simply press the red button inside the phone box and your location will be immediately transmitted to the University Police. You need not say anything. Response time is rapid; usually within two to three minutes (sometimes less) an officer or patrol car will come to your aid. If you must keep moving to protect yourself, continue to use emergency phones along the way so that Police can follow your course.

The University has a multifaceted Safety Awareness Program, which is fully described in the publication, Common Sense. Common Sense describes how to get around safely, whom to call if you need advice or help in emergencies, and how to prevent or avoid threatening situations. Information is also included about crime statistics on campus and about security policies and awareness campaigns. Common Sense is distributed to members of the University community and is available on request by writing to the Office of the Dean of Students, 5801 South Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. The University also annually distributes its Drug and Alcohol policy to all students and employees.

Campus-Neighborhood Bus System

The Chicago Transit Authority, in cooperation with the University, operates three daytime bus routes that link the central campus with its periphery. During the evening, the University itself operates five bus routes: busses leave the central campus every 30 minutes, and traverse established routes. University students ride free by showing their Chicago photo ID. An express bus route links the main campus with the University's downtown Gleacher Center and near north Chicago ($1.50 fare). For updated schedules, maps, and other information, consult the Website at www.rh.uchicago.edu/bus.

This text was lst revised on 7/2/2001.