George Washington University unveiled a new nickname Wednesday to replace one that its leaders and many students had deemed divisive and dated during a recent period of racial and social reckoning. No longer to be known as the Colonials, sports teams and other groups on the D.C. campus will go by the Revolutionaries.
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The choice, made after four finalists were disclosed in March, was announced as the largest university in the nation’s capital wraps up the school year. With it, GWU bypassed a whimsical proposal that had been a favorite of many of its roughly 26,000 students — Blue Fog. The other finalists were Sentinels and Ambassadors.
George Washington University narrows list to replace Colonials moniker
“This is an exciting day for the George Washington University Revolutionaries,” Mark S. Wrighton, the university president, said in a statement. “I am very grateful for the active engagement of our community throughout the development of the new moniker.” The university said it had received “47,000 points of feedback” and “8,000 moniker suggestions” in the past year.
A point of clarification: The university is not changing its mascot. That remains George, in honor of the first president.
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Revolutionaries, tying to Washington’s role as a military leader in the American Revolution, is GWU’s first new nickname since Colonials was adopted in 1926. In the past few years, Colonials fell out of favor because the moniker was seen as a proxy for European imperialism, offensive to Indigenous peoples in the United States and elsewhere. Many non-White students, in particular, did not identify with the nickname.
Across the country, various colleges and universities during the past decade have confronted similar issues. Campus statues have been moved, buildings renamed, and nicknames reconsidered.
In 2016 Amherst College renounced usage of the unofficial mascot “Lord Jeff” amid scrutiny of an 18th-century British lord, Jeffery Amherst, who had proposed using the smallpox virus to attack Native Americans. A year later, the college adopted the mascot the Mammoths.
In 2019, GWU students approved a referendum urging the university to replace the Colonials moniker. Racial justice demonstrations that arose nationwide after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to intensified scrutiny. In June 2022, the GWU board of trustees announced the moniker would be replaced by the 2023-2024 school year.
Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning.
The choice, made after four finalists were disclosed in March, was announced as the largest university in the nation’s capital wraps up the school year. With it, GWU bypassed a whimsical proposal that had been a favorite of many of its roughly 26,000 students — Blue Fog. The other finalists were Sentinels and Ambassadors.
George Washington University narrows list to replace Colonials moniker
“This is an exciting day for the George Washington University Revolutionaries,” Mark S. Wrighton, the university president, said in a statement. “I am very grateful for the active engagement of our community throughout the development of the new moniker.” The university said it had received “47,000 points of feedback” and “8,000 moniker suggestions” in the past year.
A point of clarification: The university is not changing its mascot. That remains George, in honor of the first president.
ADVERTISING
Revolutionaries, tying to Washington’s role as a military leader in the American Revolution, is GWU’s first new nickname since Colonials was adopted in 1926. In the past few years, Colonials fell out of favor because the moniker was seen as a proxy for European imperialism, offensive to Indigenous peoples in the United States and elsewhere. Many non-White students, in particular, did not identify with the nickname.
Across the country, various colleges and universities during the past decade have confronted similar issues. Campus statues have been moved, buildings renamed, and nicknames reconsidered.
In 2016 Amherst College renounced usage of the unofficial mascot “Lord Jeff” amid scrutiny of an 18th-century British lord, Jeffery Amherst, who had proposed using the smallpox virus to attack Native Americans. A year later, the college adopted the mascot the Mammoths.
In 2019, GWU students approved a referendum urging the university to replace the Colonials moniker. Racial justice demonstrations that arose nationwide after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to intensified scrutiny. In June 2022, the GWU board of trustees announced the moniker would be replaced by the 2023-2024 school year.
