As students return to campus and freshmen are welcomed into their new dorms, each dorm has its own events and traditions to build camaraderie. Whether it be the mini-retreat that Howard Hall residents go on each year or Carroll Hall’s first game-day tradition of bleaching their hair, these events must be approved by Notre Dame’s Student Activities Office (SAO) to ensure they comply with the University’s du Lac student handbook.
All events are required to be submitted on the University’s event organization system, ND Central, for approval by SAO, which falls under the Division of Student Affairs.
Breyan Tornifolio, director of residential life: residential education, explained in a statement to The Observer that the requirement of residence halls to submit and receive approval for planned events has been in place for a number of years. She explained that this is because residence halls and their governing Hall Presidents Council are classified as recognized student groups and therefore bound by the University’s Standards of Conduct, Student Life Policies and Recognized Student Group Policies.
Tornifolio further explained that for residence halls and all other student groups and organizations, events must be approved by the group’s advisor as well as the group’s activities liaison. Rectors are the designated advisors for student groups, and Torinfolio serves as the activities liaison for residence halls.
“Events that are submitted in a timely manner and receive all necessary departmental approvals are confirmed and finalized through ND Central,” Torinfolio wrote.
Athena Westland, president of Howard Hall, commented positively on her experience with getting Howard Hall’s events approved. Though one of her submissions was rejected this year, she said that SAO worked with her to ensure her event could align with du Lac policies.
“[We had] a rejection for an event entering the Reflection Pool. I learned that this is against school policy, so we pivoted to an event that was permitted,” Westland wrote.
Coyle Hall president Aidan Sachs had a similar experience with SAO demanding changes to the Coyle Hall naming ceremony – an event during which first years receive an appointed nickname.
“Last year, we heard it would be completely canceled, but then over the summer I had a talk with my rector and he told us that SAO would possibly want to continue this tradition in a way that works with them … the two big things that they wanted were that they wanted the freshmen to have agency, and then they wanted the freshmen to have a waiting period of at least three weeks before they received their names, for us to get to know them, and a big thing with them was that they wanted this naming process to be an opt-in situation, instead of an opt-out process,” Sachs said.
John Nisbet, president of Carroll Hall, noted similar difficulties in getting their events approved. “We did have a lot of issues last year with last year’s president getting some more events approved, especially Vermin Go Gold.” That tradition involves members of the residence hall choosing to dye their hair blond to match the main building for the first home football game of the season.
Nisbet added, “When I was a freshman, it was like upperclassmen doing it, where we would just have juniors and sophomores helping to bleach whoever’s hair they wanted to. Last year we had to change it, where we had people from the university hair salon come out and do it professionally.”
However, several hall presidents also noted their appreciation for what they understood to be the balance the University is striving for between safety and tradition.
Siegfried Hall president Matthew Langenderfer said, “I think it is positive in terms of keeping Notre Dame safe and us safe if that is what it was intended for. The only negative is that it takes more time, but it is pretty selfish to say ‘Oh I would rather save my time than put Notre Dame in any sort of legal issue or something.’”
Nisbet expressed similar thoughts. “I think it is just to keep things organized. We have, you know, 32 halls, all organizing events with different stuff in different places, and you have a university, like Notre Dame that has a reputation as a respectable institution, they are going to want to make sure that everything is in order, and especially for a school that has residences halls that pride themselves on tradition, the University obviously wants to make sure that those traditions are safe and welcoming,” he said. “So, I think at its core it can be frustrating at times, [but] ND Central is there to help us.”
Sachs likewise emphasized his willingness to work with SAO, saying, “Obviously we want the naming ceremony to exist, so of course we would listen to them.”
