About the Hall
"Notre Dame by choice, Alumni by the grace of God."-Fr. George Rozum, C.S.C.
Alumni Hall was founded in 1931, built next to the stylistically similar Dillon Hall. These two halls were constructed during Knute Rockne's tenure as head coach of the Notre Dame football team and were completed shortly after his death. Relief sculptures of Rockne and his dog, Clashmore Mike, are carved into Alumni's exterior as a memorial. At the time, Clashmore Mike was the mascot for the university's football team, and the Alumni mascot of the "Dawg" was adopted in memory of Knute Rockne, as the men of Alumni took in his dog as their own after Rockne's passing. Ever since then Alumni Hall has been giving Dawgs a home.
During its construction, the gray stone and earth-tone brick used on the large dorms were the first of their kind for Notre Dame, and so the two dorms received the nickname "The Platinum Coast," situated on South Quad across from the "Gold Coast," of Badin, Howard, and Morrisey. Alumni Hall is built in the French Collegiate Gothic style, a heavy, stone-based style that was fond of gargoyles (like the ones in our tower) and ornamentation, a style now reused and riffed on for many other buildings at Notre Dame, such as the newer dorms, Dunne and Flaherty. Other figures on our exterior walls include St. Thomas Aquinas, Madonna and Child, and an unnamed student referred to as "Joe College," leaving his studies for the real world, something that Alumni hopes to prepare its residents for, in ways far beyond academics.
Alumni Hall was rennovated during the 2022-2023 academic year, expanding common spaces, upgrading student rooms, and adding a first floor lounge which we affectionatly call "the Dawg Park." Brass keys were replaced with electronic key card access. And, "Dawg Pizza" was upgraded with a brand new kitchen. Still, the newly rennovated hall retains its stately charm with its wide hallways and majestic stone and wood work, while extending its home-like feel.
Since 1931, Alumni has created and followed many traditions. Perhaps none are as old as its rivalry with our brother dorm, Dillon. The rivalry between our two halls still hits its stride every year in October, during the most storied and intense "Rivalry Week" on campus. However, this is not the main event for Alumni. Our favorite tradition comes in April, during Wake Week. It is a week of celebration, whose activities and origins remain shrouded in mystery to freshmen until such a time that they experience it firsthand. Let it simply be said that nearly every Dawg, since its humble origins in 1980, declares that Wake Week is the best week of his life. But there are many other traditions and events as well, some more recent than others, which have stood the test of time in our hallowed hall. Our "five dollar formal" celebrates Alumni's good-spirited tomfoolery by asking residents to find an outfit costing a total of 5 bucks, and wear it to our SYR dance. And on Fridays of home football weekends, Alumni puts on an activity known as the "Quance"-short for Quad dance. At precisely 12:31 p.m., residents charge out of the South Quad doors dressed in silly costumes. They proceed to dance rambunctiously on South Quad for slightly less than ten minutes, then return inside and continue with their day.
Other traditions include our annual Christmas Lights competition, Dive Night in America™, the Dawg Jog, and Clash Week. Dawg Mass is held every Sunday night at 9:00 PM and is a great way to start our week together as a community in worship, praise, and brotherhood. One of our priests in-residence, Fr. Gerry Olinger, C.S.C., who is Vice President for Student Affairs at Notre Dame, bakes cookies every week and serves them in his apartment before mass. And our rector, Br. Dennis Gunn, C.F.C., makes chili and hosts section dinners in his apartment weekly, while serving lemonade for thirsty Dawgs every night. Throughout the year Alumni dawgs are famous for their spirited and lively "Quad sits," where Dawgs frolick regularly on South Quad, the largest Quad on any college campus in North America. The Quad is also where Alumni Dawgs play wiffle ball in our very own wiffle ball league, complete with a World Series™ every fall.
Fr. George Rozum, C.S.C. or FGR for short, served as the rector of Alumni Hall from 1978 until 2019 - an incredible span of 41 years, making him the longest serving rector in the history of the Univesity of Notre Dame. For years, every pup who walked in the front doors of our hallowed hall would immediately feel welcome, as Fr. George would memorize the name of every incoming resident long before they ever got to campus. It is a tradition that proudly continues to this day under our current rector, Br. Dennis Gunn, C.F.C., who strives to carry on Fr. George's legacy of hospitality and welcome, where every Dawg finds a home and where everyone is known by name.
We lovingly refer to our hall as "The Center of the Universe" since not only are we perfectly located on Main Circle, we are near most major academic buildings, a stone's throw from South dining hall, and a two-minute walk to LaFortune Student Center, popularly known as "LaFun." Alumni will be your home on your first day and for the next four years. Strangers become neighbors, neighbors become friends, and freinds become brothers. FGR sumed up life in Alumni Hall better than anyone else when he said, "Notre Dame by choice, Alumni by the grace of God!"
