A Much Loved Prison

For the past few months Her Campus UChicago has brought you week upon week of Campus Celebrities. From debate coaches to poets, our variety of Celebs has revealed all the different ways individuals, or teams of individuals, impact campus life.
 
But at the center of our selection process is this key question: How does this person embody UChicago? How does every week’s Campus Celeb capture the academic and entrepreneurial rigor for which the University is famous? How does – and this is a serious question – each person make this a place “where fun comes to die?”
 
The truth is that behind most smiling photos you see is someone who, like you, is slaving away in a campus library or study room. Each Campus Celeb is, like you, undertaking the monumental task of learning 10 weeks’ worth of classroom material in two to seven days. Every Campus Celeb is, again just like you, probably staring blankly at a textbook right now wondering why they haven’t transferred to another university.
 
The quintessential UChicago experience is built upon this recurring regret, and that’s what we wanted to capture this week. Hence, this week’s Campus Celeb is an embodiment of all of your anguish and bitterness.
 
The Regenstein Library was built in 1965 to honor American industrialist Joseph Regenstein. Affectionately known as the Reg, it houses one of the largest university book collections in the entire country. With five main floors, two basement levels, and a walkway to Mansueto, it’s frequently the site of student all-nighters, mental breakdowns, and everything else that makes UChicago a fun place to be.
 
While the building was physically designed to represent the true industrialist spirit, to students at the University it looks and serves more as a prison. Recent renovations to beautify the library haven’t been particularly successful as it still exudes gloom and doom.
 
Yet despite its depressing exterior, University students still maintain their masochistic bond with the Reg. The attachment is so strong, in fact, that when the Reg closed its 24/7 study hours more than a few students wept and prayed for the renovations to end.
 
For some, the Reg has effectively replaced their real home. Every floor has rows of lockers, reserved for the most overly dedicated, situated among the book stacks and cubicles. At first glance the lockers resemble file cabinets, misleading more than a few students. But upon further inspection, one will notice students extracting water bottles, dinners, and even a good day’s supply of clothing from the metal case before returning to their studies. Students in possession of Reg lockers are, in effect, the most UChicago of the UChicago.
 
Prior to this academic year the Reg did possess an area that could be considered “fun.” Reduced to a few sparse cubicles and hardly any tables, the A-level was once one of campus’ most popular locations. Famous for its rowdiness, the A-level has acted as a haven for countless UChicago all-nighters. Students flocked to the A-level, especially during finals week, to commiserate with their friends over Plato, organic chemistry, and integrals that Wolfram Alpha was unable to compute. In retrospect, the A-level truly understood the old adage that “misery loves company.”
 
While the construction of Mansueto Library has added a new dimension to UChicago studying, the Reg will remain a perennial favorite. A long tradition of academic masochism is embedded into the library’s stone walls from which some of us will never escape. Even after graduation, memories of the Reg will continue to haunt students, creating a legacy that will never die.