Notre Dame Changes Fight Song to Include Women

The lyrics of one of the most recognizable fight songs in all of college sports has been altered to recognize the loyal sons AND the loyal daughters of its illustrious institution.

That’s right, the University of Notre Dame has adjusted the famous line “While her loyal sons are marching / Onward to victory” to “While her loyal sons and daughters / March on to victory.”

At least officially. Unofficially, these have been the lyrics for decades.

It's official ☘️

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 & DAUGHTERS
MARCH ON to victory pic.twitter.com/aheZD7cQt1

— University of Notre Dame (@NotreDame) June 3, 2022

Founded in 1842, the University of Notre Dame remained an all-male school for 130 years. It finally admitted female students in 1972, and about twenty years or so after that, people began altering the fight song to reflect the co-ed student body.

NBC news correspondent and “proud alumna” Anne Thompson shared her enthusiasm for the change on Twitter:

We’ve sung it this way for decades but now it’s official! Go Irish! ☘️☘️☘️ https://t.co/KXNCOLkI0A

— Anne Thompson (@annenbcnews) June 3, 2022

However, another grad thinks the move doesn’t go far enough. Someone with the Twitter handle @zoelizabethc, who claims she will matriculate from “Notre Lame” some time this year, claims that the new lyrics are too little, too late:

if you’re going to make it “inclusive” you might as well go fully gender neutral like “while her loyal /ones/ go marching” instead of “AND DAUGHTERS!!! 💞🌸💕💖💐🎀💄🍬🩰💓💗” after women have already been here for 50 years https://t.co/VB5pFHuhmc

— zoë is 🍎🍇🍒🥝🥭🍓 (@zoelizabethc) June 3, 2022

But then again, she also proudly associates herself with the acronyms “blm acab fbgm fmab,” so she’d likely be unhappy, no matter what anybody did.

In any case, the Fighting Irish faithful will undoubtedly “cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame,” regardless of the rest of the lyrics.