Wheaton College (Illinois) - Student Life

Student Life

The Memorial Student Center (MSC) was dedicated on June 11, 1951. It was built in memory of over 1,600 former students and graduates who served in World War II, and in honor of those 39 who gave their lives. It housed the Student Union Café, nicknamed "the Stupe" (which has since been moved to the Beamer Center). An early pamphlet described the new building and listed some of the rules for its use, such as No Rook Playing and No Playing of Boogie-Woogie, Jazz, or Otherwise Abusing the Piano. The MSC was remodeled during the Fall semester of 2007 for academic use, and is now home to the Business Economics department, the Political Science and International Relations department, and the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy.

The MSC was remodeled according to the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The MSC was the first building renovated according to these standards and sets higher standards than existing EPA standards. Many of the materials that were used were post-consumer and over 20% of the materials were manufactured within a 500-mile (800 km) radius of the College. The MSC remodeling is part of the current capital campaign, The Promise of Wheaton.

The Dining Hall (now the "Student Services Building") opened January 4, 1953. Today it houses Student Development, Undergraduate Admissions, and the College Bookstore.

Jenks Hall is home to the Arena Theater, which was established in the Fall of 1974 and has staged over 100 full length productions.

In the fall of 2004, the Todd M. Beamer Student Center was completed. Beamer, a Wheaton alumnus, was part of a small group of passengers who stormed hijackers on United Flight 93, bringing down the plane in rural Pennsylvania during the September 11, 2001 attacks, and preventing it from reaching its target. The building that bears his name was a $20+ million dollar project commissioned in order to meet the needs of the growing college community. Along with its spacious and sleek modern design, the Beamer Center features a convenience store known as the "C-Store", the "Stupe" (the name derives from students shortening the previous nickname for the campus Student Union, "Stupid Onion", which in turn is a jocular mispronunciation of Student Union), a bakery café named "Sam's" (named after the former Vice President of Student Development Sam Shellhammer, who retired following the 2007-08 school year after serving Wheaton's campus community for thirty years), several reading rooms and lounges, a recreation/game room, a prayer chapel, an expanded college post office, the offices for several organizations and departments, and several other event rooms. In the fall of 2006, strong rain storms created a flood that destroyed the lower level of the Beamer Center. Wheaton College has since restored the flood-damaged building.

The official student newspaper at Wheaton College is the Wheaton Record, a weekly publication with a circulation of 3400, in existence since 1876. The Record is produced by students, published by the college, and distributed each Friday after chapel free of charge. The Record was the recipient of the 2006 John David Reed General Excellence Award and has received 13 other awards from the Illinois College Press Association, of which it is a member. The Record is also a member of the Associated Collegiate Press.

In addition, Wheaton College has many organizations on campus that range from helping the poor and needy in Chicago to the arts and Improvisation

Juniors and seniors are also eligible to live in one of thirteen campus houses, apartments (five complexes), or off-campus.