Merriam-Webster defines parietals as “the regulations governing the visiting privileges of members of the opposite sex in campus dormitories.” Specifically at the University of Notre Dame, parietals mean no opposite sexes in dorms past 12 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends. Parietals have unearthed a variety of critiques and birthed a plethora of crazy stories. Thanks to free will and young love, parietals can’t completely dominate the lives of Notre Dame students.
1. Does it count if you don’t remember?
“My rector emailed me to meet with her the morning after I blacked out, and apparently I not only broke parietals, but also ran out of the guy’s dorm without my bra on and drunkenly lied to the rector about what my name/dorm was. Banned from that dorm for the rest of the semester, and still don’t have my bra back. Yay.” – Freshman, Science Business
2. The legend
“High fived the RA on my way out at 1 a.m. one night after leaving my boyfriend’s room.” – Sophomore, Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics
3. Blame it on the nearby women’s college
“My rector found my friend throwing up in the bathroom one night past parietals and my rector asked what dorm she was in and I told her she was from SMC.” – Freshman, Mechanical Engineering, Duncan Hall
4. The innocent rule-breaker
“I have a long distance boyfriend who doesn’t go here, but I still break parietals to hangout with friends. Slash is video chatting him past parietals technically breaking the rules?!” – Freshman, Accounting, McGlinn Hall
5. Ain’t nobody got time for that
“I just sleep at off campus houses. Not about that parietal life.” – Sophomore, Sociology, Pasquerilla East
6. Defying all odds
“I sleep over in my boyfriend’s room four nights a week.” – Sophomore, ACMS
7. Escaping by the skin of your teeth
“I drunkenly peed in the O’Neill bathroom while breaking parietals, and hid in the stall when the RA’s made their rounds. Not sure how I got away with that one.” – Freshman, English
8. Your RA might be too cool for school rules
“Pretty sure my RA knows we all break parietals.” – Sophomore, Finance
9. The sad truth
“My mom was less strict than parietals.” — Sophomore, Marketing, McGlinn Hall
10. The loophole
“Woke up on a bench in front of a guy’s dorm after Feve one Friday morning. Hey, I mean at least I didn’t break parietals.” – Freshman, Finance, Knott Hall
11. What to do when the clock strikes half past midnight
“I think parietals create endemic problems between the genders. I’ve heard of girls who felt pressured to stay over in guys’ rooms after parietals because they’re more afraid of getting in trouble than saying no.” – Junior, American Studies, McGlinn Hall
12. The throwback
“Parietals make Notre Dame social life revert back to a weird high school mentality.” – Freshman, Film, Television, and Technology major, Farley Hall
13. The transfer perspective
“I’ve broken parietals three times, and I’ve been here for one month. I transferred from another school so this whole parietals thing weirds me out.” – Sophomore, Economics, Pasquerilla West
14. The sibling complex
“So happy I have to go awkwardly ask one of my friends who’s a girl if my sister can stay with them cause I was totally looking forward to sleeping with my sister!” – Freshman, Finance, Knott Hall
*Names withheld for privacy.
