The point is interesting - what do you think has been in the root of these perceived cultural changes? My lens may be too narrow here.
This being said, along with observations of cultural shifts, do you have any data of quantifiable changes at some of Chicago’s peers? Put another way, in the past 15 years, Chicago’s college has grown about 40%. The size of the administration has grown by a comparable - if not greater - amount. 50% of student housing from 2000 no longer stands. There’s been a 10% increase in freshmen retention and a 15% increase in graduation rate. Grades have gone up from around a 3.1 to probably around a 3.4. We don’t even need to mention changes in selectivity and overall shifts in admissions.
As cultural perception is hard to capture, if I looked at Princeton or Brown or Duke, could we describe similar quantifiable changes?