Night City University

Night City University
2020
Information
Type	University
Owner(s)	Government of Night City
Leader(s)	Edward Michaels (2020s-2040s)
City	Night City
District	University District (2020) University District (2045)
Appearance(s)
Game(s)	Cyberpunk 2013 Cyberpunk 2020 Cyberpunk RED Cyberpunk 2077
Book(s)	Cyberpunk 2013: Welcome to Night City Night City Sourcebook Home of the Brave Tales of the RED: Street Stories Halloween Screamsheets Danger Gal Dossier

Night City University (NCU) is one of the most important education centers of Night City. Founded in 1994 and originally named Richard Night University, this college is considered an academic fortress and bastion of higher learning, supporting a lively counterculture.

History

1994 - 2020s

Night City University began as Richard Night University, and was built in 1994 to be the academic center of his model city. Richard Night placed the campus west of the beautiful Lake Park to balance the thriving Corporate Center on the opposite side; together they formed Night City's yin-yang of commerce and higher learning. The most impressive structure was the administration building, constructed with materials favored by the city's founder, who designed it to strongly draw from classical architecture. Its design and surroundings made visitors feel they had stepped into a realm of higher learning.

The original university took up only a portion of what it would become. After the corporate takeover in 2009, the campus was expanded on size, doubling its size and being renamed to Night City University. Most of the humanities functions were moved to the newly constructed northern half of the campus, while the science departments stayed in the grouping of older buildings in the southern end.

As of 2020, Night City University had roughly over 15,000 students, many of whom commuted to classes on buses that ran at 20 minute intervals between the campus and the NCART station at the western edge of the corporate sector. The campus police made sure the university and its related facilities were all well protected, and they did a very good job at that. They often clashed with the Voodoo Boys, a local gang who were known to harass the students and sell drugs to them.

Night City University was best known for its high quality engineering curriculum, but could still offer a sound education in humanities. The students of 2020 did not have to use books, as all texts could simply be downloaded into the computer and learn it all from one place. These devices saw a frequent use in classes, but were costly and other universities could not afford them. On the other hand, the wealthiest students could afford to buy a course chip, plugin all the knowledge directly into their brains. Despite this advances, the true cognitive excellence was learned the old-fashioned way, by attending to class. With all this information and no knowledge on how it works, these chips were not that useful. All these advances made a change in the way of teaching. Modern education no longer emphasized in memorization, but rather the management and analysis of information from the unimportant, and to synthesize conclusions from the result. Students still gathered with teachers for group discussions, but they also spent much of their class time in the multi-curriculum study cubicles trying to absorb their lessons.

The Dean of NCU, Edward Michaels, was pretty popular among students and staff due to his professionalism, openness and honesty. He always tried to keep corporations out university decisions, as he believed every student should be treated equally, but there were many of his colleagues who thought the opposite.

Another related facility to NCU during this time was the Fine Arts Campus built in West Hill, where students worked in the many studios and workshops, and learned about art history. Most students rented the apartments near NCU, which had been expressively prepared for them and needed electronic passkeys to access. These apartments had everything a student would need for the full scholar year and to comfortably live in them.

Night City University survived the Fourth Corporate War that severely damaged much of Night City, and continued operating during the following years.

2030s - 2040S

In the late 2030s, future mayor of Night City Lucius Rhyne attended the university, graduating in Cybernetic Law.

By the 2040s, Night City University was the only college still functioning in Night City. Edward Michaels was still the dean, though due to his old age he had to replace his legs with cyberware. He had also made various deals with groups of edgerunners in order to protect NCU during the trying Time of the Red, especially since the South Night City Combat Zone was bordering with the University District.

By 2045, the many assaults by boostergangs caused the college to be fortified like a monastery. Still, NCU kept offering the only opportunity for non-corporate kids to get a higher education. During this time, a notorious case of kidnappings in the district caused the campus police and the NCPD to investigate the missing women whereabouts, but the strong gang presence in the border with South Night City difficulted the task. In the end, a mercenary group was hired to solve this case of disappearances, who managed to find the culprit, a former NCU Professor known as Huntver. They found him at Union Chapel, where they were able to rescue student Lucy Rhinemeyer, the sole survivor.

2060s - 2070s

In the late 2060s, NCU researchers borrowed the T-Rex bones at Terra Cognita to study them. University professors of medicine also did a special series of lectures there.

Around 2074, chemistry student Nele Springer was recruited into Crimson Harvest. The university grounds were considered a breeding place for revolutionary initiatives and an ideal location for dubious organizations to recruit.

In 2077, Arasaka signed a cooperation agreement with NCU, allowing students and teachers to acquire an Arasaka Ozukumi SX cognitive cyberware on loan at a 20% discounted rate. That same year, biology professor Oliver Hernandez briefly appeared on the late-night talk show Night After Night with Ziggy Q, to talk about his petition to overturn the Avian Extermination Act and allow birds to return to Night City.

NCU Campus Police

The Campus Police, dubbed the "Mad Maxes" or simply the "Max's" by the students, is private police force tasked with guarding Night City University and any related facilities.

In the early days, the security consisted of rented cops who barely did their work. Due to that, NCU decided to fund their own police. By 2020, the new security force — led by Michael Hill — took their job very seriously, protecting the campus grounds 24/7 all year round. Any students that had any problems were able to count on them, though they had no authority outside the campus area and usually called the NCPD if that was the case. Despite this, they were a force to be reckoned with, managing to stand their ground against any gang that dared to approach the university. The NCU Fine Arts Campus, located on another part of the city, was guarded by a contingent of the NCU Campus Police.

The security's glossy black protective gear and no-nonsense attitude made the students to affectionally start to call them the Mad Maxes. While NCU security's main objective was to keep the place safe, it was possible for students to enter an optional protection agreement with the university that allowed the NCU police to go help any student living in the nearby apartment blocks outside of the campus grounds.

In the 2020s, the NCU Campus Police and the old Voodoo Boys were extremely antagonistic against each other, clashing any time the Voodoos went after a student that had the extended security coverage.

By the 2040s, the campus security was not as popular, and didn't take their job as seriously. They had at least one AV.

Layout

Night City University grounds in 2020

2020

NCU was located west of Lake Park, in the University District of Central Night City. The location could be divided between the original campus occupying the southern end, and the extended grounds north of it.

The southern half of the campus was where most of the science departments were located. The southernmost structure was the impressive Administration Building, with a small plaza in-between its two wings. The following five buildings (Thompson Hall, Science Labs, Science Tower, Knute Hall and Robinson Hall) were all interconnected with hallways that ran through them, making what looked like separate structures from the outside into one large building on the inside. The most notable of these study buildings was the Science Tower, whose reflective silvered windows made the tower be seen from one corner of the campus to the other.

The northern half of the campus was where most of the humanities departments were located, including Howard Wong Building, Humanities Building, Social Sciences Building, and the Schumaker Hall of Performing Arts. Additional structures found here included Brooks Library (with a notorious book and information collection), the Campus Clinic, and the Student Union, this last one having the only bar in the campus, the Ratskeller.

2045

NCU was located in the University District of central Night City. Due to the proximity of the Combat Zone and the occasional gang attacks, the college had been heavily fortified and it looked more similar to a monastery. Near the center of the campus, right outside of the main cafeteria, there was a small outdoor plaza where food trucks sold their wares during the day. This area with synthetic grass was always full of students. A new addition to NCU from before 2045 was the Loggagia Arboretum, a plant vault where many specimens donated by Biotechnica were kept.

Staff

2020

• Edward Michaels, Dean of NCU
• Alice Bloom, Professor
• Kang Park, Professor
• Susan Anthony-Lee, Asian Studies Professor
• James Bockerlee, Professor Emeritus
• Karen Liston, Admissions
• Michael Hill, Campus Police Chief

2045

• Edward Michaels, Dean of NCU
• Huntver, Professor (formerly)

2077

• Niles Whittaker, Professor Emeritus
• Oliver Hernandez, Biology Professor

Notes

• The NCU Motorboards was a roller derby team in the 2040s made up of NCU grad students and professors.
• Despite being mentioned and shown in the WNS TV channel, NCU doesn't appear in the overworld of Cyberpunk 2077.
• In Cyberpunk 2013: Welcome to Night City it was simply known as City College.

Gallery

A psychology lecture in the Night City Sourcebook

NCU campus in the eastern block of the district in the Night City Sourcebook

NCU in Cyberpunk 2077

NCU Signet Ring