Year
Built: 1906
Capacity: 106 (smallest)
Male or female? always male
They Call Themselves: Vermin
NAMED FOR: Charles Carroll of Maryland, the
only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and a
cousin of John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United
States. The building was originally known as Dujarie Institute
or Dujarie Hall after Jacques Dujarie, founder of the Holy Cross
brotherhood. It served primarily as a scholasticate, a kind of
seminary, for the brothers until 1966, when the University bought
the building and the brothers moved into new quarters across the
highway at Holy Cross College. This is actually the second Carroll
Hall, but the original wasn't even a building. It consisted of
three floors at the west end of the Main Building that housed
about 350 high school students hospital-ward-style. The high school
wing passed into history in 1946 when the space was converted
to offices.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Carroll is the smallest
residence hall but has some of the largest rooms. Its location
overlooking the west shore of Saint Mary's Lake provides great
views of the Dome and Basilica, but because of its remoteness
some students jokingly consider Carroll to be "off-campus housing"
or, in winter, "Siberia."
HISTORY MADE THERE: This is more like potential
history. The most famous of Holy Cross brothers, Blessed Brother
Andre Bessette, CSC, stayed briefly in Dujarie twice, in 1920
and 1927. Brother Andre died in 1937 and has already been beatified.
If he's canonized, his visits would represent the only time a
future saint stayed at Notre Dame.
THEY LIVED THERE AS STUDENTS: Brother Edward
Sniatecki, CSC, '25, who just turned 100, lived and studied in
Dujarie from 1921-24. He now resides across the street in the
brothers' nursing home, Dujarie House. More recent residents include
Class of 2002 valedictorian Timothy Dolezal and current Irish
starting quarterback Carlyle Holiday.
LORE: According
to legend, Carroll men owe their Vermin nickname to rodents having
taken possession of the dorm between the departure of the brothers
in 1966 and the arrival of Notre Dame undergrads the following
year. Carroll was home to graduate students from 1970 until 1977,
after which it returned to being an undergraduate dorm. Whether
rodents ever completely ruled the roost, they've long been attracted
to the building, especially squirrels in winter.
TRADITIONS: In September 2000 in anticipation
of a home football game against No. 1 Nebraska, Carroll residents
constructed an immense "Go Irish" banner out of 72 bed sheets
stapled together. The banner, which covered nearly the entire
lake-facing side of the building, is now raised before every home
football game. Carroll residents used to take advantage of their
hall's remote locale and gothic architecture at Halloween by turning
it into a haunted house. In 1997, however, female visitors complained
about a portion of the house in which hands reached out from the
darkness and grabbed them. The gropers earned themselves a date
with Student Affairs, and the tradition abruptly ended. Two events
have replaced the haunted house: A Carroll Christmas and the Fusic
Festival. The first involves the lighting of a 30-foot tree on
the dorm's front lawn. The Fusic Festival, "a fusion of food and
music," features performances by campus bands while students enjoy
food donated by local chains. All proceeds go to charity.
