Hall
Portrait: Breen-Phillips
Year Built: 1939
Capacity: 206
Male or female? Female since 1973
They Call Themselves: Babes since 1999;
before that, Banshees
Named for: Brothers-in-law
William P. Breen, class of 1877, an attorney, and Frank B. Phillips,
class of 1880, a banker. The two benefactors were both from Fort
Wayne, Indiana. Breen was a charter member and first president
of the Notre Dame Board of Lay Trustees, established in 1920 by
then-President James A. Burns, CSC. For many years the University
awarded the Breen Medal for student achievement in oratory.
Distinguishing Features: The only hall with
a hyphen, B-P enjoys one of the most convenient locations on campus,
steps away from the library, LaFortune Student Center and North
Dining Hall. The Puzzle Room in the basement is actually a study
lounge named for the jigsaw puzzles that adorn the walls.
B-P is also known for its lively Sunday liturgies, held in
the hall's sunken chapel. The building's cornerstone contains
mementoes from Breen and Phillips' days as students.
History Made There: Breen-Phillips,
Cavanaugh, Alumni, Dillon and Zahm halls all quartered naval officers
in training during World War II. At
one time the hall housed the entire athletic department in its
basement. Coach Frank Leahy had an office there. Pope
John Paul II imparted an Apostolic Blessing on Breen-Phillips
in 1984.
He Lived There: Astronaut James Wetherbee '74,
a veteran of six space flights and currently technical assistant
to the director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate
at the Johnson Space Center.
Lore: For a while in the '60s the dorm
was known to many as Stalag B-P, a takeoff on the 1953 film Stalag
17 about a German POW camp during World War II.
The nickname referred to B-P's rector at the time, who had
a reputation for his strictness and also happened to be of German
descent. The hall's Babes intramural teams nickname has dual origins:
the 1998 movie Babe: Pig in the City and a good-natured
nod to B-P's reputation as "the fat dorm." The notion that B-P
residents are all overweight dates to a contest some years ago
sponsored by an off-campus ice cream eatery. It wanted to find
out which dorm bought the most ice cream cones. For some reason
every time the men of Keenan Hall went there they said they were
from B-P. The women's hall thus became identified, unjustly, as
the largest consumer of ice cream. B-P fat jokes have been a staple
of the Keenan Revue for years. A second moniker, "Bay of Pigs,"
likely results from the coincidence of initials. As men gave up
the hall to women some left mementos behind. Several female students
in the '70s reported former male residents showing up in their
rooms on football weekends to retrieve a "time capsule" they had
secreted behind the mirror above the room's sink.
Traditions: Each spring the women of B-P host
a Beach Party filled with beach-themed activities and contests.
The dorm's signature event is the B-P Meal Auction, which raises
money for the American Diabetes Association. Students bid on meals
with coaches, faculty, staff, rectors and other campus celebrities.
This past year's event raised more than $5,700. The morning of
the first home football game, B-P residents march to the North
Dining Hall in pajamas and bathrobes for their traditional Bathrobe
Breakfast.
(July 2004)
