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About LAS

College and Campus Trivia

Find out whether you bleed orange and blue by trying your skill in campus trivia.

  1. Baton, badminton, and this still-popular children's activity were just a few of the sports women engaged in during the University's early years.
    What is the activity?
  2. Cattle and other livestock were once judged in a dirt-floor arena in the center of this building a century ago.
    What is the building's name?
  3. This is the University's motto, eloquently honored by the twin figures standing behind the majestic Alma Mater.
    What is the motto?
  4. The only gravesite on campus belongs to this pivotal University figure, who was responsible for the addition of a literature and arts curriculum in 1873.
    Whose grave is it?
  5. This formerly popular Homecoming tradition involved senior men marching down the street dressed as public figures, clowns, vagabonds, and women.
    What was the tradition called?
  6. The popular campus myth that "a lover's kiss will bring eternal bliss" surrounds this campus landmark, a gift from the class of 1912.
    Which campus landmark is it?
  7. Students gave the University's first building this nickname, perhaps because of its huge proportions on an uncompromisingly flat landscape.
    What was the nickname?
  8. When it opened in 1905, this building featured a gymnasium and swimming pool.
    What building was it?
  9. Tumbling and complex mounts were just a few of the feats attempted by this traveling performance troupe, formed from the University's Interscholastic Circus in 1934.
    What was the group named?
  10. LAS English professor Thatcher Howland Guild wrote the oldest school song in the United States.
    What song was it?
  11. In 1986, the same year Halley’s comet last appeared in our inner solar system, this campus building celebrated its 90th anniversary and was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
    What building is it?
  12. If you visited a University of Illinois sporting event in 1893, you would have seen fans and athletes adorned in these colors.
    What colors were they?
  13. LAS alumna Penny Patterson has worked with this famous gorilla for more than 30 years in one of the longest interspecies communication studies ever conducted.
    Who is this famous gorilla?
  14. The largest bell in the Altgeld Hall bell tower was dedicated to this former president of the University of Illinois.
    Who was this man?
  15. Dance performances and the crowning of a May Queen were highlights of this now-forgotten celebration that took place around Mother’s Day during the early 20th century.
    What was the name of this event?
  16. Although it was never adopted as the University’s logo, this U of I graduate’s distinctive “UI” emblem can be found in various places on campus, including on the mosaic tile floor in the lobby of Altgeld Hall.
    Who was the student?
  17. Students ran around a wet, muddy field attempting to keep a giant ball from touching the ground in this popular interclass competition, held on the morning of Homecoming throughout the 1910s.
    What game was it?
  18. The second story of this building is composed of 200 Roman Doric columns, honoring 183 University of Illinois students who perished in World War I.
    Which building is it?
  19. A bison and the entire bird collection from the Columbian Exposition of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair could previously be found on the second, third, and fourth floors of this building.
    Which building is it?
  20. In 1920, this building’s 15 bronze carillon bells first played the Illinois state song, “By Thy Rivers Gently Flowing,” but have more recently played popular theme songs and holiday tunes.
    Which building is it?
  21. In 1878, this department became the first to have its own building.
    Which department was it?
  22. Chemistry professor Ken Suslick used the color changes of porphyrin dyes to develop this artificial sensory body part, rumored to work better than the original.
    Which body part is it?
  23. LAS graduate Michael Masser, who has written songs for Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, and Whitney Houston, was nominated for an Academy Award in Music in 1975.
    Which song was nominated?
  24. Before class registration was automated online in 1995, students stood in long, winding lines in this building.
    What building was it?
  25. Light from this star, one of the brightest in the night sky, was used by the U of I Observatory annex to send a signal to open Chicago’s Century of Progress fair in 1933.
    Which star was it?
  26. Wooden planks covering the walkway on the west side of the Quad earned it this nickname in the University’s early years.
    What was the nickname?
  27. This U of I football legend and LAS student led the Illini to a Homecoming victory with six touchdowns against Michigan in the Memorial Stadium dedication game on October 18, 1924.
    Who was he?
  28. This U of I astronomer was the first in America to electrically measure the brightness of the moon in 1907.
    Which astronomer was it?
  29. During the Depression, chemistry professor George Frederick Smith, along with alumnus Charles Getz, invented a new aeration process for the preparation of this dessert product.
    What was the dessert?
  30. Before it was put on prominent display in 1998, this sandstone portal from the former New Main University Hall had to be unearthed from behind maintenance sheds at Allerton Park in 1994.
    What is it?
  31. The residents of Champaign-Urbana originally preferred to have a different kind of public institution located in their community instead of a college.
    What else was considered?
  32. In 1893, students with nets and sample jars did field work in a marshy area in Urbana.
    Which class was it?
  33. Created in 1916, the University had a rock garden in this location until 1951.
    Where was the site of the rock garden?
  34. This shot was taken during activities around commencement in 1915, when 851 students graduated from the Urbana-Champaign campus.
    Where is this commencement activity taking place?
  35. This U of I professor was a pioneer in the study of insect physiology and credited with discovering the hormone that causes insect metamorphosis.
    Who was this entomologist?
  36. In 1907, this structure was built in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda.
    Which building is it?
  37. Atmospheric scientist Robert Wilhelmson received 14 awards, including an Academy Award nomination, for his groundbreaking animation of one of these in 1989.
    What weather phenomenon did he animate?
  38. The Walking Club, a group of scholars who gathered on Saturday afternoons for hiking, canoeing, and baseball, was founded by this world-class scholar and classics professor.
    Who was the professor?
  39. The Spurlock Museum holds the earliest surviving manuscript fragment of one of the New Testament books.
    Which book is it?

Lincoln Hall Trivia

  1. Lincoln Hall briefly bore another name before it became a memorial to the former president.
    What was the building’s first name?
  2. During the Lincoln Hall expansion in 1929, the Lincoln Hall Theater was not the first choice amongst many faculty members and the University president.
    What did they want instead of a theater?
  3. The terra cotta exterior panels on Lincoln Hall depicting Lincoln’s life, his quotes, and portraits of contemporaries were a bargain even by 1911 standards.
    How much did they cost?
  4. A brass plaque of the Gettysburg Address is mounted on the main foyer’s south wall in Lincoln Hall.
    Where was it before that?