<p>on campus in Hyde Park, that would be considered a "symbol" or "emblem" or "traditional item" at the school? For example, the Rock at Northwestern, the Cannon at Tufts, a school seal inlaid into the ground, a famous Arch, etc...</p>
<p>Kinda... nothing that's big outside of tour guide lore, though.</p>
<p>We have a seal in the Reynolds Club that you're not supposed to step on; we have gargoyles on Hull Gate, dollar shake day at the C-Shop, Scav Hunt, the sculpture by the site of the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.... first Heisman trophy on display at the gym... nothing that really unites the campus, just an assemblage of really neat things.</p>
<p>As an outsider, I would say Rockefeller Chapel is the most distinguising building. Don't think it's really a "symbol", but it's probably what I would choose if we were coming up with a "what campus is this" game.</p>
<p>I'd add botany pond to the list. It's sort of a traditional item but not really what OP is asking for.</p>
<p>Maybe the gargoyles.</p>
<p>Do most universities have something like that? I don't think Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, or Brown does. (Yale has Harkness Tower; Princeton maybe has Nassau Hall, I guess.) It's not like every university has a Touchdown Jesus, er, Golden Dome.</p>
<p>If Chicago HAS to have something like this, why not make it imaginary? E.g., the trophy case full of Economics Nobel Prizes. Or the dual monument to Friedrich Hayek and Leo Strauss they're sure to erect in Free Iraq someday?</p>
<p>the co-op!!!!</p>
<p>although it's moving :(</p>
<p>I stepped on that seal the first time I heard of that legend! Take that seal! Haha </p>
<p>But yea, I'd place my vote on Scav..</p>
<p>This reminds me that I really want to prank Northwestern's rock at some point.</p>
<p>The seal!</p>
<p>The statue on the park by the midway? </p>
<p>The atomic energy statue?</p>