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Notre Dame updates fight song’s lyrics to include ‘daughters’

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

New words: Notre Dame unveiled new lyrics to the "Notre Dame Victory March" at the conclusion of the school's "Golden Is Thy Fame" celebration gala dinner on Thursday, (Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s venerable fight song will now recognize female students who attend the university.

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The Rev. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, announced in a statement Thursday that the “Notre Dame Victory March” will update its lyrics to recognize the “daughters” of the South Bend, Indiana, college.

The song, which has been synonymous with the Fighting Irish football team for 114 years, previously used the lyrics, “While her loyal sons are marching onward to victory,” Sports Illustrated reported. Now, the lyrics read, “While her loyal sons and daughters march on to victory.”

The new version made its debut at a gala event on campus Thursday night, ESPN reported.

“I’m delighted and now that I think about it, I wonder why it took 50 years since women have been admitted to Notre Dame to realize that you could change the lyrics of the song and still keep the meter of that line just fine,” Brad Gregory, a history professor at Notre Dame, told WNDU-TV.

The lyric modification came as the university commemorated the 50th anniversary of its decision to allow female undergraduates, according to a news release.

The “Notre Dame Victory March” has been played at the university’s athletic events since 1919, ESPN reported. It debuted on campus on Easter in 1909. In 1928, Notre Dame band director Joseph Casasanta rearranged the song to its current version, the school stated in a news release.

“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,” Jenkins said in a statement. “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.”

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