the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1974, Jay Winston Johns willed Highland, the 535-acre (2.17 km2) historic Albemarle County, Virginia estate of alumnus and U.S. President James Monroe, to the college. The college restored this historic presidential home near Charlottesville and opened it publicly.
On January 20, 1983, Jefferson Hall, a student dormitory, was destroyed by fire without casualties. The building, including the destroyed west wing, was rebuilt and reopened.
=== 21st century ===
On July 25, 2012, Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), in nearby Norfolk, Virginia, made a joint announcement with William & Mary that the two schools were considering merging, with the prospect that EVMS would become the William & Mary School of Medicine. Eventually, in 2024, Old Dominion University, rather than William & Mary integrated Eastern Virginia Medical School to create Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, becoming the largest academic health sciences center in …
