Hall
Portrait: Zahm
Year Built: 1937
Capacity: 237
Male or Female? Always male.
They call themselves: Zahmbies, although the
hall's sports teams are called Rabid Bats.
Named for: Father John Augustine Zahm, CSC.
After graduating in 1871, Zahm remained at Notre Dame to teach
chemistry, physics and natural science. He was regarded as a captivating
lecturer and brilliant scholar and rose to director of the science
department in 1875 and to vice president of the University in
1884. Zahm designed the new science facility that opened in 1884;
the building now houses the LaFortune Student Center. He left
Notre Dame in the late 1890s to travel to Rome and received an
honorary Ph.D. from Pope Leo XIII. But his interest in evolution,
which he saw as compatible with religious faith, earned him critics.
His book Evolution and Dogma narrowly escaped being banned
by the church. Later in life Zahm devoted much of his time to
travel and in 1913 joined former President Theodore Roosevelt,
a close friend, on an expedition to South America.
Distinguishing features: A huge red "Z" hangs
from one of the dorm's third-floor windows and illuminates the
North Quad nightly. Since 2002 the dorm has also hung an enormous
banner reading "Here Come the Irish" across its entire eastern
facade on home football Saturdays. The dorm's parlor is named
for Conor Murphy, a former resident who died of leukemia in 2001,
his junior year.
History made there: Zahm housed naval officers
during World War II while they trained at the University. It was
the second dorm built on the North Quad.
They lived there: Cyrus Friedheim '57, chairman
and CEO of Chiquita Brands International; Barry Lopez '66, author
of Resistance and Arctic Dreams; Father Laurence
Murphy, M.M., '61M.A., '64Ph.D., president emeritus of Seton Hall
University; Lucio Noto '59, retired president and CEO of Mobil
Corporation; Terry O'Neil '71, producer for NBC Sports; and Regis
Philbin '53, host of Live! With Regis and Kelly.
Lore: Zahm's reputation as the dorm with the
most raucous students began in the days when upperclassmen with
the highest grade-point averages got first pick of dorms. Zahm
had the least desirable campus location, next to the freshman
residence halls, so the least-accomplished students tended to
end up there. Current residents affectionately refer to their
hall as Zahm House, a la Animal House, and signs pointing
in the direction of the hall during freshman orientation read,
"Zahm Hall, the best 6 years of your life." The hall's mascot
is a stuffed moose head named Ignats that hangs in the basement
lounge. Four residents acquired it in 1979 from a ski lodge that
was going out of business. They brought it back to campus and
began taking it to men's basketball games. Legend has it that
every time the moose head attended, the Irish won. One day an
usher refused it admittance and the team lost. Superstitious coach
Digger Phelps found out and instructed the ushers never to bar
its entry again.
Traditions: Every winter Zahm hosts a Decade
Dance in which each section dresses in costumes from a different
decade. Residents also participate in the biannual Bun Run, in
which male students streak through LaFortune and the library during
finals week with only their faces covered. Residents volunteer
with a program called There Are Children Here that enables youth
from troubled homes to escape from their domestic situations by
going to a camp outside of town or, in the case of Zahm, coming
to campus to spend time with college students.
Zahm Hall photo by Matt Cashore
(October 2004)
