Location, location, location, part III

Will responds: "Thus, the argument goes, keeping Hyde Park's shopping scene dismal keeps at bay people to whom convenient blue jeans are more important than intellectual rigor-- not because Chicago students don't shop, but because Chicago wants people for whom shopping is of secondary importance."

Does that imply that, say, Princeton (or perhaps the Institute for Advanced Study), seeks people for whom shopping is of primary importance because there's a J. Crew and a Banana Republic within walking distance of the campus? No school exists entirely independent of its surroundings, and prospective students are correct in considering where various schools are located along with what the academic possibilities look like.

University of Chicago students may seek "intellectual rigor" but they are also drawn to the fact that the school's in (OK, near) a large city. A large city with bookstores, yes, but also cheesy bars, Vienna Beef places, and, yes, clothing stores, from H&M to Bloomingdales to, yes, the Gap.