For years, students have often suspected that the long arm of duLac stretched down Bulla Road and beyond.

Due to ambiguities in duLac — or perhaps long-repressed desire to break parietals — students in off-campus apartments and houses have often wondered whether or not the nightly separation of the sexes extends beyond campus boundaries

"It's an urban legend that has been passed on from generation to generation," said Jeffrey Shoup, director of Residence Life at Notre Dame. Shoup confirmed that parietal visitation hours apply only to students living in residence halls. Once students leave their dorm rooms they are no longer expected to abide by dorm visitation hours.

One reason why the parietals misconception persists lies in the way duLac presents the University's regulations. Under the subtitle "Student Life Policies" duLac states, "Unless otherwise noted, these policies and procedures apply to all students — undergraduate, graduate or professional, whether the behavior occurs on or off campus."

DuLac lists, as one of these regulations, parietals for undergraduate residence halls. Although readers might assume that parietals apply to "all students" as stated above, they do not apply to people living off-campus.

Brian O'Donoghue, president of Notre Dame's student body, confessed that even he was a believer in the urban legend of off-campus parietals. He pointed to the reality that most students do not sit down and read duLac cover to cover.

Instead, duLac should be used as a guide to student life, he said.

According to Shoup, no student has ever come to the administration with a complaint about parietals being enforced off-campus by the University. Notre Dame is well aware that there are even cases where both males and females share housing accommodations off-campus, he said.

Jessica Martin, a senior American Studies major living in the Lafayette apartment complex where many students reside, recognizes the differences between dorm life and off-campus living and like many students, agrees that it would be impossible for Notre Dame to enforce parietals off-campus. Unlike the dorms, Martin says off-campus living allows for a "late-night, friendly atmosphere" where men and women have the chance to visit past visitation hours.

"Most students don't give a second thought about parietals when living off campus," said Martin.

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