George Washington U. Students Want to Remove ‘Offensive’ Colonial Mascot

George Washington U. Students Want to Remove ‘Offensive’ Colonial Mascot

Do these students somehow not know they signed up to attend George Washington University?

The College Fix reports:

George Washington U. student petition: Remove ‘offensive’ Colonial mascot

Here we go again: The 92-year-old George Washington University mascot known as the “Colonial” should be removed, a student petition says, because it is “offensive.”

The signatories want the Colonial replaced with … a hippo.

“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 petition reads. “The historically, negatively-charged figure of Colonials has too deep a connection to colonization and glorifies the act of systemic oppression.”

Other suggested replacements for the Colonial are the “Riverhorses” and the “Revolutionaries.”

If the petition gets 500 signatures, the Student Association will have to respond, according to The Hatchet. It currently is just two signatures shy of that figure.

Former Hatchet reporter Andrew Hesbacher, along with Rachel Yakobashvili and Emma Krasnopoler started the campaign after being warned at a study abroad orientation not to wear anything with “Colonial” on it outside of Europe.

“Citizens of those countries would be offended by the history of the word,” they were told.

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