On March 21, 1971, the Board of Trustees of both the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College attempted to unify these institutions by absorbing Saint Mary’s College into one academic university under the University of Notre Dame. In Spring 1971, both institutions initiated a co-education program wherein more than half of Saint Mary’s students were enrolled at the University of Notre Dame and one-fourth of Notre Dame’s male undergraduate population were enrolled in courses at Saint Mary’s (Sister Mary Immaculate 197). 

Both students at Saint Mary’s College and the University of Notre Dame had much to say about the proposed merger in a survey that was sent around the campuses in the early 1970s. According to Notre Dame’s student-run newspaper, The Observer, “the overwhelming majority of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s students supported coeducation. Notre Dame’s student body had an 84.1% approval rating for admitting women while 74.5% of the St. Mary’s students said that Notre Dame should admit them” (Kelly, et al., par. 19). Despite support from both student bodies, Saint Mary’s students and faculty expressed fears that the historically women’s college would lose its identity and some Notre Dame students students agreed, saying “that they believed coeducation would be the downfall of Saint Mary’s because of the role Notre Dame plays in the institution’s identity. One student went as far as stating that Saint Mary’s had no identity beyond its connection to Notre Dame” (Kelly, et al., par. 21).

Although a preliminary agreement to merge the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College was signed in Saint Mary’s Stapleton Lounge on May 14, 1971, the merger was called off six months later on November 30, 1971. A joint statement was released which indicated that “the two schools ‘were unable to solve financial and administrative problems’ connected with the proposed unification” (Sister Mary Immaculate 201). As a result, Notre Dame opened its doors to female students and became a stand-alone co-educational institution in the fall 1972. 

While some anticipated that Saint Mary’s College would go out of business after the failed merger, this institution remained a women’s college and still provides a Catholic and Liberal Arts education today. Though the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College did not merge, both institutions maintain community by allowing dual degree and enrollment programs and make clubs and sporting events available to both student bodies.