‘Notre Dame Victory March’ to now include ‘sons and daughters’ in chorus

It’s a new era at Notre Dame. One of the most iconic and recognizable fight songs in collegiate athletics will take on a new tune.

It’s the 50th anniversary of the decision of former university president Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh to admit undergraduate women to the university. To commemorate that milestone, Notre Dame is officially changing the chorus of the “Notre Dame Victory March” to include both “sons and daughters.”

The song has been as follows since it was written in 1908:

“Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame.

Wake up the echoes cheering her name.

Send a volley cheer on high.

Shake down the thunder from the sky.

What though the odds be great or small,

Old Notre Dame will win over all.

While her loyal sons are marching

Onward to victory.”

Now, the second to last line will say “sons and daughters.” The university has also decided to reimagine its Main Circle, the ceremonial entrance to campus, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of admitting women to the university. The anniversary coincides with the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities.

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“The success Notre Dame enjoys has been shaped by the extraordinary leadership and contributions of the women who have been and are a part of the Notre Dame community — beginning with the four Holy Cross sisters who arrived in the Indiana wilderness in 1843, to those who lead, teach, learn, minister and work here today,” university president Rev. John I. Jenkins said. “On this occasion of the anniversary of the admission of undergraduate women in 1972, we celebrate the invaluable contributions of women as students and graduates. The re-imaging of the Main Circle will be a tribute at the heart of our campus to the ways in which these women have inspired, led and enriched us.”

The first public singing of the new song occurred Thursday night at a gala inside the Joyce Center shortly after Father Jenkins announced the news. In a 1998 book titled “College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology,” Northern Illinois University Professor William Studwell ranked “Notre Dame Victory March” No. 1 ahead of Michigan’s “The Victors.”