Dupont College

Dupont College is a fictional Ivy League university in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was once ranked with Harvard as one of the great schools of the nation, but at the point that the novel begins, it is simply living off of its reputation and now does little to support the development of knowledge or young minds. Many times throughout the book the contrast is shown between the academic and the athletic sides of Dupont, the latter receiving a lot of money and prestige for the college. Even the description of the college in the prologue shows the school's identity to be quite different. It is located in a slightly impoverished area, almost slum-like, but it is strategically designed to appear academic, right down to the grove of trees. However, this appearance of academia is largely constructed and (with the exception of Mr. Quat's efforts) largely a fazade...