This is my second review because I seemed to have triggered the little stinkers at Yelp or IC. They hid my review I made in February. I gave them 3 stars then, but nope, I'll only give them 1 now. I'm not a student but I visit the place every month to see my girlfriend who is a student. Most of my time is spent in Pixley Hall and the Schewe Library, so I'll only focus on those. Pixley doesn't seem too bad, there's a pool table on the first floor and it's located within walking distance from the classrooms. Dorms are tiny though, there are no guest dorms, and the rooms become even smaller when you consider they all house 2 people. Speaking of people, students are often very loud and obnoxious in the hallway at all hours of the night, and the rooms provide minimal soundproofing. Room and board is ridiculously overpriced for a shoebox and, I kid you not, there was a student who smeared poop onto the Pixley bathroom walls. A meeting had to be called to remind students of basic hygiene. On paper, Schewe Library is amazing. After all, it is a library (ba dum tss). There's a big room with a projector that anyone can use to watch YouTube videos or movies. There are puzzles, board games, legos, a touchscreen whiteboard, and a spot to get tea and coffee. There are relaxation rooms that are indeed relaxing. There's also an archive downstairs documenting the War of Northern Aggression. However, there's more to Schewe than meets the eye. The library staff had a month dedicated to 'Banned books', and by 'Banned Books', I mean books like Maus, Captain Underpants, The Great Gatsby, and GLTB porn books. The library makes a big show about how the books are "banned" and how naughty it is to read them. Meanwhile, what they don't tell you, is that downstairs there's a room off limits to the public where the books that offend the library staff are hidden. The room has a shelf with a sticky note on it labelled 'Shelf of Shame'. I have attached a photo showcasing some of these books. These are the ACTUAL banned books that Schewe doesn't want you reading. You don't have to agree with the books to recognize how stupid and hypocritical it is to censor these books while celebrating a 'Banned Book Month'. Some of these books are feminist literature, something one would expect a Liberal Arts college like IC to appreciate, given the college heavily promoted Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. But nope, they decided to censor a book called 'WOMEN'S GUIDE TO FIGHTING BACK - DON'T BE A VICTIM.' Among other books. See the attached images for reference. The subject matter of these books paint a pretty vivid picture of the person(s) who put them there. Any book that may have an alternative viewpoint on alcoholism, homosexuality, or feminism seems to strike a chord. Also, I guess whoever it is hates Scientology too. One librarian, while printing papers, made me feel uncomfortable by aggressively staring disapprovingly. I'm not pointing fingers. Unlike the Schewe Library, I encourage you to draw your own conclusions. read more

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They shadowbanned a gentleman's review on here that's one star which is ridiculous and I agree with what he said. I am a student here but I would not be if not for the fact that I earned a scholarship and a little financial aid that made the school comparatively affordable. The dorm is a shoebox. The light bulbs they chose to put into the ceiling fixture (which I cannot change) are the cheapest LEDs on the market and the fixture is less than 2 feet above the beds so I feel like I'm breaking out whenever my roommate puts the light on. First and second year students are REQUIRED to live on the campus despite the substantial cost which is sheer robbery. Students on my floor stand outside their doors and yell at each other down the hall to communicate with each other. Annoying. They make you take a bunch of BS classes, this is called the "Blueprint," to be a "well rounded student" (aka corporate automaton). The blueprint includes psych 101, eng 101, 2 semesters of foreign language, a "literacy and information" course, a "freshman seminar," and cultural literacy courses. In addition to these, you have to sit through 20 convocations that are basically DEI seminars. This isn't a laidback school of any kind, the professors as a theme take their classes extremely seriously and since it is a small school, they will remember and possibly hold grudges against you. I have always been a straight A student, spelling bee champion, and I got a high SAT score, but I found myself struggling to keep up with all the pedantic requirements professors add to their assignments. It feels like they consider themselves experts, which is not the case for all of these professors, only a few are experts in their field (you can Google them) and want to penalize anyone who doesn't want to be their disciple of learning. Fieldhouse and athletic facilities are not properly taken care of. I had a fieldhouse at my high school and they actually used air filtration and cleaned it with a carpet extractor to keep it nice, but the fieldhouse here smells weird and there's always visible dirt and crap on the floor. It's also not properly ventilated and it's easy to become overheated during a workout. The hot tub and sauna are not even hot and the pool is unsanitary. The cafeteria has limited hours and a limited rotation of meal options. There is someone who always refills the napkin dispensers to be overflowing so you can't even pull a napkin out because they get stuck. Instead, they should be concerned about replenishing the utensils because they are always running out of forks and cups. The "literary societies" (IC's version of sororities/fraternities) are the definition of "peaked in high school." They have no standards for who joins. If you're an international student you're a shoo-in because yes, they actually think people from outside of Illinois are exotic and automatically interesting, that's how small-minded these people are, and they take themselves way too seriously. There have been some stories where the "hazing" has gone too far with these societies and it seems like these cliques bully/exclude people who make them feel insecure. There's a statue of Abraham Lincoln on campus and some events on campus to commemorate him on his birthday. The mascot of the school is the "Blue Boys" and "Lady Blues." I think it's great to commemorate veterans, but there were Confederate soldiers from Jacksonville too, there are even graves for them here in town and a museum where you can see Confederate memorabilia. This part of the history is totally erased, dishonors the veterans, and the school plain ignores the fact that Abrham Lincoln was a traitor, shut down newspapers critical of him, accelerated a war that killed more Americans than any other, jailed political enemies, rigged elections, and DIDN'T EVEN END SLAVERY nor intended to achieve equality between races. The real reason he didn't want expansion of slavery was because he didn't want African-Americans to live in northern states because he didn't like them. There were many factors behind the civil war and you'd think a historic school like this would be opening to exploring them but that is far from being the case. There's more but I don't want to give identifying information. read more

Fantastic school and staff! Barb Farley is wonderful and it's got a nice small atmosphere.

Wonderful liberal arts school with caring administration and faculty. Lovely campus & grounds!!! I graduated from IC and have been back many times, have many other alum friends who loved it as much as I did!! read more