Paris West University Nanterre La Défense (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) formerly called Paris X Nanterre is a French university in the Academy of Versailles. It is one of the 13 successor universities of the University of Paris. It is located in the western suburb of Nanterre, near La Défense, the business district of Paris. It is commonly referred to as Nanterre. Nanterre was built in the 1960s on the outskirts of Paris as an extension of the Sorbonne. Based on the American model, it was created as a campus (as opposed to the old French universities which were smaller and integrated to the city they were in). Nanterre became famous shortly after its opening by being at the center of the May 68 student rebellion. The campus was nicknamed "Nanterre, la folle" (Mad Nanterre) or "Nanterre la rouge" (Red Nanterre, in reference to communism). To this day, the university remains traditionally a center of the left wing, as opposed to universities such as Paris II-Assas, traditionally inclined to the right. Nanterre is the second largest campus in France after Nantes, with its own Olympic-sized swimming pool and a stadium.