George Washington University has quietly begun removing references to its “Colonials” mascot after students argued earlier this year that the mascot represents “oppression.”
According to a report by the Young America’s Foundation, George Washington University has been slowly removing references to its popular “Colonials” mascot. Breitbart News reported in February that students at the university started a petition which argued that the “Colonials” mascot has a problematic “connection to colonization” and “systematic oppression.”
The petition, which received over 500 student signatures, argued that the “Colonials” mascot is “extremely offensive.” “We, as students of the George Washington University, believe it is of great exigence that the University changes its official mascot,” the petition read, “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,” the petition added, “Alternative nickname recommendations are ‘Hippos,’ ‘Revolutionaries,’ or ‘Riverhorses.’ – READ MORE