All the Slang You’ll Ever Need to Know
Buildings and Locations
Main Building: The Golden Dome. It is good to use for directional purposes around campus, and there are many reasons why you will find yourself here from picking up housing forms to attending Keenan Dances.
ABP: Au Bon Pain, (pronounced Aw-Bawn-Pawn). Home to many tasty (albeit sometimes pricey) treats located on the first floor of the Hesburgh Library. Fortunately, they take Flex Points.
Barber: Frank the Barber is located in the basement of LaFortune. His styles are limited, but for some people, Frank’s style is the style they want.
The Bookstore: This place has just about everything, from books to ND apparel to school supplies to shampoo to food. The bookstore can be a worthwhile stop even if it is on the other side of campus. (Officially known as the Hammes Bookstore.)
CSC (Center for Social Concerns): A building between BP and Hesburgh library, it serves as home to many service/volunteer organizations. You can drop by any time to see what kind of volunteer work is going on.
Cineplex 16: The movie theater near campus. Keenan will be making group trips here during the year.
CoMo: (Coleman-Morse Center) Located on South Quad, it is home to the First Year of Studies (FYS) program. All first-year advisors have their offices in this building. Additionally, there is a study place on the first floor that offers free soda and popcorn.
Computer Labs: These useful places can be found in LaFun, the library, DeBartolo, CoMo, and several other classroom buildings.
The Copy Shop: Located on the second floor of Decio Hall and in LaFun’s basement, this is the place to get copies made, obtain course packets, and send faxes to people.
D2: These are the parking lots that we use. D2 is located on the east side of Juniper Road, across from Pasquerilla East.
The DH: The dining hall. Your sustenance. Food. SDH = South Dining Hall, NDH = North Dining Hall (the preferred eatery of the Keenan Knights)
DPAC: The Debartolo Performing Arts Center. An amazing facility that is home to a variety of productions
God Quad: The portion of campus right in front of the Main Building. It is home to two dorms (Sorin College and Walsh Hall), the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, some religious statues, and very scenic landscaping.
Golf Quad/West Quad/Far Quad: It is the southernmost quad on campus and relatively close to the first of the two ND golf courses. The name South Quad had already been taken, so this quad had to make do with other names. West Quad is a misnomer, however, because it is no further west than South Quad. Home to McGlinn, Welsh Family, Keough, and O’Neil Hall.
Grape Road: This road in Mishawaka is the place where you can find just about anything. From Best Buy to Meijer to many restaurants, you will probably become very familiar with this area. It is located a few miles east of campus, and it runs North-South.
The Grotto: This is a replica of the Grotto that can be found in Lourdes, France. It is located here behind the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and it is a great place to reflect and pray.
Hes/ Club Hes (Hesburgh Library): This tall and massive building facing the stadium serves as a memorial library for Father Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, who was once the President of Notre Dame. The library’s basement, first, and second floors act as more of a social study atmosphere and the upper floors are where you go if you do not want to see anyone while you study. Often known as “Club Hesburgh” during finals week due to the large concentration of students. (No cover charge.) Open until 2am outside of finals week; open all night inside.
Huddle: Convenience store located on the first floor of LaFun.
St. Liam’s: Located right behind Keenan, in St. Liam Hall, this is a top-quality campus health facility. It was renovated in fall 2006; now it is better than ever.
JACC: The Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center. Home to several of our varsity teams, it also houses Notre Dame’s infamous pep rallies.
LaFun: LaFortune Student Center. The first floor has a Burger King, Subway, the Huddle Mart, the LaFortune Information Desk, huge TV lounges, and lots of eating/study space. The basement has the University Hairstylists (both a salon and a barbershop), the copy shop, a FedEx drop box, Anthony Travel, a florist, a billiards room, a computer lab, and more eating/study space. Upper floors mostly just have meeting rooms, though the LaFortune Ballroom deserves a mention.
Library Circle: The drop off/pick up spot on the east side of the Hesburgh Library. South Bend’s Transpo routes that go through Notre Dame stop here.
Main Circle: The drop off/pick up spot near Alumni Hall and the Law School building.
Mod Quad: “Modern Quad.” Area of campus north of the Hesburgh Library and south of Stepan Center. This is home to Siegfried, Knott, Pasquerilla East, and Pasquerilla West.
The Nip: Affectionate name for the extreme eastern corner of each hallway in Keenan. It sticks out a little on its own… like a nipple.
NDH (North Dining Hall): One of two dining halls on campus. Located perhaps fifty to sixty yards from Keenan (that is to say, it’s really close), so you will be eating here fairly often.
North Quad: The best quad on campus, located between Stonehenge and Haggar Hall. It is home to first and foremost Keenan Hall, and then also home to Cavanaugh, Farley, BP, and Stanford Halls. Zahm Hall (now Zahm House, apparently) is also located on this quad, but when anyone asks about them we have an unwritten don’t-ask-don’t-tell philosophy about them.
O’Shag: O’Shaughnessy Hall. This is where many of the liberal arts classes are held. It is located on the east end of South Quad.
Post Office: Located in Hammes Mowbray Hall (north-by-northeast of NDH, just west of Stepan Center), the main reason why ND gets its own zipcode. (Incidentally, the dorms get their own special 4-digit extension, too. If you want to speed up mail delivery, tell your relatives to use “46556-5615” as the zip code. That will get the mail into Keenan Hall faster.)
The Rock: The Knute Rockne Memorial Building, but nobody calls it that. Located on the far west side of South Quad. It is one of Notre Dame’s two well-equipped athletic facilities.
Rolfs: Located on the east side of campus, just north of the JACC, this is the other athletic facility.
SDH (South Dining Hall): This is the other dining hall. It is far worse, far creepier, likely haunted by the ghosts of Harry Potter’s parents, and it is located on South Quad.
SMC (or Smick): Saint Mary’s College. SMC is the all-female liberal arts college located across the street. This is never a bad place to get lost – the students there may well become some of your closest friends.
Super Six: The largest and often most desired rooms in Keenan. Traditionally occupied by groups of 6 Juniors, the Super Sixes consist of two side rooms with beds for 3 people and a huge common room in the middle. They often serve as social centers for a section and one of these beacons of friendship can be found in the West section of every floor.
South Quad: Anything between The Rock and O’Shag. This is home to Alumni, Dillon, Fischer, Pangborn, Lyons, Morrisey, Howard, and Badin Halls. Way less cool than North Quad of course.
Stepan Center: Looks eerily similar to the Agrocrag from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It is an arena that houses smaller events on campus, including our section basketball tournaments. Many are clamoring for its tearing down. It’s old, and leaky. The best part? Many departmental (i.e. large-scale) examinations are held in here. You’d better hope it doesn’t rain on those days.
Stonehenge: The nickname of the War Memorial fountain located on the Fieldhouse Mall at the south end of North Quad.
Touchdown Jesus: The nickname of the mosaic on the side of the Hesburgh Library. Known officially as the “Word of Life” mural. Before the addition of stadium seating, the southern side of the stadium could see Jesus signaling for a touchdown when Notre Dame scored.
University Park Mall: Located between Grape Road and SR 23 (north of Douglas Road), this Mishawaka mall has a lot of stuff.
Workout Room: There is a gym in the basement of Keenan that is used constantly by the residents. Complete with a stereo and ipod hookup, the workout room is extremely convenient especially in the colder months.
Zaland: Keenan Hall’s very own food service located in our basement. This place is the spot for late-night snacks and pizza. A great spot to entertain your prospective lady friend in your neverending quest for… whatever it is that’s motivating you to entertain her.
Events and Activities
Bookstore Basketball: ND’s very own five-on-five basketball tournament, featuring over five hundred teams every spring. It is the largest five-on-five tournament in the world.
Disco Roll: Keenan’s SYR held in October, it is an event widely praised by all girls that attend (as all Keenan events are). Keenan residents dress up in ridiculous clothes and take a shuttlebus with their dates to a local roller rink.
The Great Pumpkin: Awesome Keenan service project in which we escort local neighborhood children around campus on Halloween for candy and fun. It gives you an excuse to dress up and trick-or-treat like the good old days.
Keenan Revue: The best dorm event.
Muddy Sunday: Keenan Hall’s widely popular, annual mud volleyball tournament. Held in the spring, it raises money for Habitat for Humanity and attracted over 175 teams of 8 players last year.
Reindeer Roast: A Keenan cookout in December that includes a Christmas lighting ceremony, celebrating the Christmas season at the same time.
Miscellaneous
AR: Assistant Rector. We have two of them. They live on the third and fourth floors of Keenan Hall (rooms 320 and 420, respectively). These guys are awesome and are looking to be your friend, so take the opportunity to get to know them.
Domerfest: First rule about Domerfest is don’t talk about Domerfest.
DuLac: Notre Dame official rulebook covering the rules, violations of and punishments for breaking said rules, and in general how best to get noticed by the administration if you really wanted to. This is the power behind the dreaded ResLife sanctions. DuLac pretty much governs your life at ND.
First Year of Studies (FYS): The study program that you will follow as a freshman. You will have a first-year advisor and he or she is located on the second floor of CoMo.
Block-250: The most common meal plan. It provides you with 250 meals at the dining halls to eat each semester and $500.00 in “flex points” that can be spent pretty much anywhere on campus each semester. Unused flex points in the fall semester are added to the spring semester allotment; unused flex points in the spring go away. Thus, there is usually a huge rush to spend all your flex points near the end of the year.
Grab ‘n Go: When you don’t have time for a full meal at the dining hall, Grab ‘n Go is there with sandwiches, chips, cereal, and other options for you to grab and be on your way with.
OIT: Notre Dame’s Office of Information Technologies. They handle pretty much everything to do with computers at ND. If you have a computer problem and your hallmates and friends are proving useless– or even if they’re not– they are the place to go.
Parietals: ND student visitation hours (as set down by DuLac) that prohibits members of the fairer sex from visiting most areas of Keenan after a certain time. On weekdays, this is usually midnight; on weekends, this is usually two in the morning. Visiting hours resume at 9am every morning. Certain areas of Keenan are known as “24-Hour Space”, in which girls can remain after parietals. However, these are public spaces, so obviously there are certain things you can’t do.
RA: Resident Assistant. A senior who lives in your hallway that serves as an authority figure. RA’s are the people to go to in times of need. A good relationship with your RA is always helpful for many, many reasons, so do try to get to know your RA. (The RAs can be found in #11 and #32, where # is the floor you want to look on.)
South Shore: A commuter train that runs between the South Bend airport and downtown Chicago. Trains leave every couple of hours and it’s less than ten bucks each way. It’s a good way to get to and from Chicago. Visit Anthony Travel for schedules and information.
SUB: The Student Union Board; these guys handle many of the activities that happen around campus such as movies that are shown in DeBartolo and speakers who come to campus.
SYR: Screw Your Roommate. These are dances for which you are supposed to set your roommate up. However, the official form of these dances no longer exists because dances within the dorm have been banned. Not to worry, though, because Keenan throws the best out-of-dorm dances ever known to man (seriously), such as the Disco Roll and Spring Formal.