Trivia Tuesday: Brown University

Blog post by Michelle Zabat, JIF Fellow

TRIVIA TUESDAYS

Stay tuned for more posts like this one every Tuesday until JCAS!  Study the facts for a chance to win a prize during the Symposium!   

Located atop College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University is the seventh oldest college in America. Originally founded in Warren, Rhode Island as the College of Rhode Island in 1764, it moved to its current location in 1770 and was renamed Brown University in 1804. The University recently commemorated its 250^th anniversary with a year full of fun events and celebrations.  

Want to know more? Here are some additional fun facts about Brown!

• Brown was the first Ivy League university to accept students regardless of religious background

• Women were first allowed to enroll in 1891 as students in the Pembroke College in Brown University. Pembroke and Brown, which was previously all male, merged in 1971. Today, the Pembroke area makes up the north end of campus and is home to dining halls, dorms, and academic buildings.

• Brown is perhaps best known for its unique Brown Curriculum, an open curriculum structure that eliminates the core or distribution requirements that many other universities have in place. Instead, students are challenged to create their own “core curriculum” in the courses and disciplines they deem most challenging and interesting to them. 

• Brown’s very first building, University Hall, was built in 1770 and originally housed all university functions. Today, it still stands on the Main Green, although Brown has expanded to around 230 buildings. 

• The Van Wickle Gates, which guard the entrance to the Quiet Green, only open twice a year—once during Commencement, to welcome new first-year students, and once during Convocation, to say goodbye to graduating seniors. 

• Sayles Hall is home to the largest Hutchings-Votey organ in the world, and every Halloween, the university organist plays a haunting midnight concert. Students bring their blankets and pillows to listen to the tunes. 

• Brown hosts annual Spring Weekend concerts, which draw students to the Main Green to hear musical artists from all over the world. This year’s headline acts were Waka Flocka Flame and Modest Mouse, and past performers include Bruce Springsteen, U2, Snoop Dogg, and Diplo.