Students at George Washington University in Washington voted to change the school’s mascot and rename the school’s teams because of “systematic oppression.”
The team’s current mascot is a caricature of George Washington and the sports team name is the Colonials. The school has used the name since 1926, according to Fox News.
“We, as students of the George Washington University, believe it is of great exigence that the University changes its official mascot. The use of “Colonials,” no matter how innocent the intention, is received as extremely offensive by not only students of the University, but the nation and world at large. The historically, negatively-charged figure of Colonials has too deep a connection to colonization and glorifies the act of systemic oppression. Alternative nickname recommendations are ‘Hippos,’ ‘Revolutionaries,’ or ‘Riverhorses,’” reads a school petition that led to the vote.
Student Association President Ashley Le, wrote a statement on how the petition started to change a name that has been associated with the university for decades:
“Over the past few months, we have witnessed a passionate, student-led movement to express concerns regarding our University’s official nickname, the Colonials. Through organized community events, discussions, and most recently the online petition, many have loudly emphasized how their student experiences at GW are impacted because of how we identify ourselves as Colonials, regardless of the intent behind the name.”
“We need to listen to who feels disenfranchised by this term,” said Amy Martin, one of the student government senators advocating the name change, via Fox News.
Fifty-four students voted in support of changing the name of the school mascot, on March 28, according to the Twitter account for George Washington University’s student newspaper The GW Hatchet.
BREAKING: 54 percent of voters approve a referendum to replace the Colonials nickname
— The GW Hatchet (@gwhatchet) March 29, 2019
“If students don’t like the nickname ‘Colonials’ they could easily transfer to another school or simply apply elsewhere. No one forced them to apply to GW. They knew the school’s nickname way before their application process started,” commented Gabriela López Case on The GW Hatchet’s announcement of the election results.
“Really? If this is what students at GW devote their time to, they are severely undertasked.
“If a student has an issue with the nickname, don’t attend!” commented @nobes002.
“Why is this a problem now? This has been the nickname for years and no one was offended. It’s going to be like U of North Dakota where you change the mascot to something stupid and people will still call it by its old nickname,” commented Aaron Burg.
54 percent of voters need to stop. No one is offended by our nickname and mascot. Stop creating a problem when there isn’t one. I’ll talk to you about tuition cost, majors that don’t pay you any money, but don’t take away the ties that bind alumni and students as Colonials.
— Jason J. Lah (@JasonLah) March 29, 2019
No matter the results of a vote from students, school officials would need to approve any calls for a name change.
There are also those at the school who think calling for a name change is misguided.
“The name Colonials is being stripped of its own historical meaning and wrongly treated as synonymous with ‘colonialism,” said George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley, via Fox News. “Not only were the colonials not a manifestation or celebration of colonialism, they were the very symbol of resistance to colonialism. They fought the British Empire to secure self-rule. In doing so, they defeated the greatest world power of its time.”
“Colonials were America’s first soldiers and thus our first veterans. How can you not be proud to be associated with our first veterans?” said Michael LaPlace, an alumnus of the university, via Fox.
Jake Corsi, a member of student government at the university not in support of the name change, told Fox it “could be easily described as nothing more than a pet project of two far-left [Student Assembly] senators,” and that “It represents a statistical minority of students. Out of the 26,000 students that attend GW, only 500 plus students signed the petition.”
