Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a Big Ten university which has its main campus in Evanston, Illinois, on a 240-acre (970,000 m²) campus along the shore of Lake Michigan. Several of the university's professional schools are located in Chicago, on a 25-acre (101,000 m²) campus near the Magnificent Mile. US News & World Report ranks Northwestern 12th among national doctoral research universities. In addition, the School of Law is consistently ranked in the top ten best by the same publication. Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management consistently ranks as one of the world's best graduate business programs. Though journalism schools are not ranked, Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism is widely regarded as one of the top three journalism schools in the United States. It is always recongnized as Top Ten US college.

Traditions

On the Saturday before Memorial Day each year, an all-day music festival known as Armadillo Day, or more commonly Dillo Day, is held on Northwestern's Lakefill -- an area of land reclaimed from Lake Michigan. The event was founded as a small party on the lakefill by a group of students from Texas, hence 'Armadillo'.

Related Topics:
Dillo Day - Lakefill

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Each winter, on the second-to-last weekend of the quarter, hundreds of students participate in Dance Marathon. The 30-hour event raises considerable sums for local charities.

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In the heart of south campus, there sits a quartzite boulder known as 'the Rock'; however, the quartzite is no longer visible underneath countless layers of paint. Originally a water fountain and simple stone landmark, vandalism of the Rock increased, particularly during the Vietnam War, turning it into a canvas for student art, opinions, advertising, messages, proposals, and jokes. Tradition holds that students may paint anything that they wish on the Rock, as long as someone has guarded it for twenty-four hours prior to painting.

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