George Washington University Students Vote to Scrap Mascot, George Washington
A private university in Washington, D.C., is doing away with its mascot due to concerns about its “inclusivity.”
“The George Washington University student body voted Thursday to ‘remove and replace’ its mascot, the George the Colonial,” according to Campus Reform.
George the Colonial was obviously meant to depict Revolutionary War General and the first president of the United States, George Washington.
But a small minority of students at the university worried that the mascot was not sufficiently progressive, presumably due to the fact that Washington was a white man who owned slaves. Despite founding the greatest nation in the history of the planet, Washington’s fatal flaw was that he existed as an ordinary white male of his time.
“The original push to change the mascot started last spring with an online petition, which garnered over 500 signatures,” according to the report. “Ashley Le, who served as GW Student Association President at the time, encouraged university administrators to listen to students’ concerns on the matter. The total number of signatories that the petition has amounted to less than 2 percent of the GW student body.”
Haley Margolis, a Student Association Senator, orchestrated a panel earlier this year called “Is the GW Colonial Inclusive School Spirit.” She reportedly told Campus Reform that “school spirit is something that should be based on equality.”
Changing mascots has become a cultural battle for the “progressive” types on college campuses, attempting to whitewash history that they deem “offensive” or “racist.”
The University of Illinois removed Chief Illiniwek as its mascot in 2007, but managed to keep their nickname – the Fighting Illini. Bradley University and Alcorn State University both dropped their Native American mascots. Bradley’s nickname is still the Braves, but their mascot is “Kaboom the Gargoyle.” Alcorn State also still uses the Braves nickname, but changed its mascot to a Hawk.
Other schools have been forced to change their nicknames and mascots as a result of petulant students.
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