Student Life
Reynolds Club
Web: studentactivities.uchicago.edu
Phone: 4-0858
Monday–Thursday: 8:00 a.m.–midnight
Friday–Sunday: 8:00 a.m.–2:00 a.m.
The Reynolds Club isn't really a club. It's more of an Italian piazza, a public square where everyone goes to socialize, have a bite to eat, and catch up on the news of the day. Since Chicago doesn't have quite a Mediterranean climate, our piazza is mostly indoors with everything from huge open spaces to tiny nooks. Everyday life happens here in a sort of controlled chaos—a chaos determined and controlled by students.
On a typical afternoon outside the Reynolds Club, on 57th Street, a throng is waiting for the local bus (it's still too early for the Lakeview Express bus that goes downtown). Inside, in the lounge, a few students have their feet up (sans shoes) and are browsing the newspapers available in the lobby. More are doing homework. Someone's napping, head slumped over The Symposium.
The readers (and snoozers) don't seem to be bothered by the din of people talking, laughing, and swarming by in the expansive lobby. Students are at lobby e-mail stations, casting their vote for new Student Government leaders. Others are looking quizzically at a display of student artwork. A student group (one of more than 300 on campus) is selling donuts in hopes of raising money for its annual cultural show (and maybe recruiting a member or two along the way). The Mock Trial Team is hanging a banner that promotes its upcoming competition.
Upstairs at the Reynolds Club, the electric drill and power saw are whirring as University Theater tech crews bring a set design to reality. Aspiring actors are practicing their lines for next month's performance of Ibsen's Ghosts.
WHPK radio is broadcasting its weekly "Radio Dada" show from Mitchell Tower. The Chicago Weekly staff is editing photos and checking stories for next week's edition. Down the hall, members of the Environmental Concerns Organization are talking about last night's meeting and are about to head downstairs to the RSO Computer Lab to whip up a flyer to post all over campus about upcoming events.
Someone's studying the bulletin boards in the basement, looking for an apartment to rent for the summer. A guy is getting his hair cut in the barber shop.
A duo is facing off across one of the pool tables in Hallowed Grounds coffee shop (run by students) on the second floor. Tonight, they'll be back to watch The Simpsons and grab a latte.
A group of friends with rumbling stomachs is momentarily immobilized—pizza, Subway, or Einstein Bros. Bagels? But it's Wednesday! Which means dollar shakes at the C-Shop. And it is one of those days when the sun shines in a cloudless, Mediterranean sky. They take their shakes into Hutchinson Courtyard, sit on the grass, talk, and watch the passing scene.
