Part of a longstanding tradition at Notre Dame, the first SYR dances of the year will take place Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5. SYRs, the casual counterpart to hall formals, get their acronym stood for “Screw Your Roommate,” refering to the process of a student choosing their roommate’s blind date. SYRs are now more commonly referred to as “setting up” for the dance.
Howard Hall, Stanford Hall and Lyons Hall will hold their SYRs this weekend, in addition to Keough Hall’s toga dance. Howard Hall sophomore Molly Hennessy, a member of the hall's dance planning committee, shared that their denim and diamonds hoedown-themed SYR will be held Friday in a tent on South Quad.
Hennessy said that each year, a new theme is tacked onto the broader theme of Howard hoedown. Themes in the past have included a Barbie hoedown and a neon “hoedown glowdown.”
“I planned our dances in high school, so I wanted to do it here too. I’m planning the one in the spring too, and my friends are doing it together, so it’s super fun,” Hennessy said. With her friends, she decided on the theme, facilitated ticket sales and ordered decorations and food.
Howard Hall celebrates Howard Week before their SYR each year, with community building activities each night, including a Hannah Montana movie night this past Wednesday.
Lyons Hall will host their SYR in the same tent as Howard Hall the following night.
Lyons freshman Kinsey Sullivan shared that the dance will have a “Noah’s Arch” theme, a tribute to the Lyons Hall arch.
Sullivan stated was excited for the animal-themed costumes at the dance.
“My roommate and I are wearing matching onesies with our dates, and I can’t wait to see the overall vibe of the dance,” Sullivan said.
Reflecting on the tradition of setting up your roommate, Hennessy thought most students did not participate, but has seen upperclassmen especially try it out.
This year, Hennessy and a group of 10 of her friends decided to set each other up for the dance. They revealed the date’s names earlier this week and will meet them before the dance on Friday.
Sophomores Ava Boyle and Ceara Murphy, roommates in Welsh Family Hall, also decided to honor the tradition for their dorm’s SYR, happening next Friday.
“I just know we’ll look back and be like ‘that was so funny,’” said Boyle. “We wanted to set each other up last year, but we didn’t know too many people. With a year under our belts, we decided to go for it.”
To find a date for Murphy, Boyle initially decided to go for “super random” people, messaging three on Instagram. Eventually, she decided to choose a closer acquaintance. Boyle and her roommate will reveal their dates by having them come to the door of their quad before the dance.
Because they won’t be communicating with their dates beforehand, they’ve each passed along a costume for their date to the other.
Sullivan elected to go with friends and said “I wouldn’t say it was a ‘screw-your-roommate’ situation, more like a ‘I’ll go to yours and you can go to mine’ kind of situation with my roommate’s friends in Keough.”
Aubrey Naffis ‘98 reflected on her memories of SYRs with her friends in Knott Hall, a women’s hall at the time.
“By the time we were at Notre Dame, I don’t think anyone was setting up people blindly. If people were setting each other up, it was typically as friends,” Naffis said.
Naffis and her friends usually went in groups, and her fondest memories are from everyone spending time together in the dorms beforehand.
