George Washington University has announced that the 2022-23 academic year will be the final one with its teams known as the Colonials, revealing in a Wednesday press release that the school’s mascot will undergo a name change expected to be announced before the 2023-24 school year.
GW has used the Colonials nickname since 1926, but in the release, the school said that the Board of Trustees decided on the change based on the recommendation of a special committee, noting Colonials “can no longer serve its purpose as a name that unifies.”
“The board recognizes the significance of changing the university’s moniker, and we made this decision only after a thoughtful and deliberate process that followed the renaming framework and special committee recommendation that considered the varying perspectives of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and athletics community,” Board Chair Grace Speights said in the school’s release. “A moniker must unify our community, draw people together and serve as a source of pride. We look forward to the next steps in an inclusive process to identify a moniker that fulfills this aspiration.”
The name change is the result of three years of research and discussion among multiple task forces and special committees that were first formed in 2019. Ultimately, those groups decided that while name changes should be rare, the Colonials nickname “no longer served the GW community,” and should be retired in favor of a new nickname.
“Our committee of students, alumni, faculty, staff and athletics representatives worked diligently to undertake a thorough review of the moniker,” said Mary Cheh, chair of the Special Committee on the Colonials Moniker. “The committee took its role seriously, reviewing relevant historical research and soliciting feedback widely to produce a report and recommendation grounded in facts and recognizing the division among the community with respect to the moniker. Ultimately, we determined a new moniker would help support unity in our community. I am thankful for and proud of the committee’s hard work.”
“We have evolved over our 200 years as an institution and a community,” added Christopher Alan Bracey, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “Today, the moniker no longer does the work that a moniker should – namely, unifying the campus behind our academic and athletic institutional aspirations.”
The new nickname will be chosen “after a broad university community engagement process,” including the establishment of a special advisory committee of GW staff and alum and the selection of a search firm to help strategize the process.
“We have a great opportunity to conduct an inclusive process that will determine how we as a community want to come together around a unifying moniker and showcase ourselves as a distinguished and distinguishable university,” Wrighton said. “I am very excited for our next steps together.”
“The moniker is one way in which our student-athletes, athletic staff and fans build community,” added Director of Athletics Tanya Vogel. “I know some people will be disappointed today, but we see this as a tremendous opportunity to come together, share our experiences and consider what is important to our GW community as we launch the new moniker development process.”
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