Despite the school being named after an actual colonial, students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. have launched a campaign to replace the “Colonial” mascot with one without so “deep a connection to colonization.”
Although the university has not officially responded to the student vote to remove the mascot that they say “glorifies the act of systemic oppression,” it recently renamed a building called Colonial Center the Student Services Hub.
After failed attempts to replace retired mascot “Denver Boone,” the University of Denver now has no official mascot. Until recently, the school’s “Pioneer” nickname was the only remaining official unifying symbol for students. Amid controversy, the school has begun quietly removing the word “pioneer” from student ID cards and other official university documents and communication, despite insisting that it still embraces the nickname.
California State University, Long Beach’s long-standing “Prospector Pete” mascot was relieved of his duties in 2018 because he represented the California Gold Rush, or as the university president put it, “a time in history when the indigenous peoples of California endured subjugation, violence, and threats of genocide.”
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