University of Illinois Chicago Circle - Circle Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 10 text:

INTRODUCTION. . . Chicago Circle is like the city that spawned it. It rose stone and steel from a plain of small build¬ ings. It stands apartfrom its sur¬ roundings. It takes pride in its development and is optimisticfor a better future. It resents being called second” and strives to outdo its larger counter-part. It seeks recognition as a unique educational phenomenon. This year Chicago Circle will join with the Champaign-Ur- bana Campus in celebrating the one-hundreth anniversary of the land-grant university in Illinois. However, the fight for four- year degree granting University of Illinois in Chicago began twenty years ago when Navy Pier was established as a make¬ shift way-station for returning vets. The saga of Navy Pier is well known and often retold -- hund¬ reds of Pier vets remain to tell it. Former Pierites will, however, comprise a majority of the 750 students leaving this June in the Circle’s first graduation. When the last former Pierile finally graduates from the Circle within (he next two years, the unique flavor provided by these students will be lost. Yet this loss will be compensated by the new tra¬ ditions and customs still to be established by a stone and steel college in the heart of a great city. The transition from Navy Pier to Chicago Circle was just- a dream until the winter of 1965 when blustering winds and snow provided a bleak reception for the transfer students from the Pier. But they endured and in so doing created a new heritage. Given tall grey buildings of stone and steel, they built a university. It is not necessary to begin this yearbook with glowing promises for UICC’s future as the trends awakening here and now assure the emergence of a great university - Chicago Cir¬ cle of the future. ■ ■■ ■ v jv V.-vV- -