GWMayhem, you’ve convinced me.

Or, why not rid the school of George Washington altogether? He owned slaves and grew hemp for god's sake, right? Maybe there's someone more appropriate .... The Stephen Miller University? The Stephen Colbert University? The Jerry Seinfeld University?

This is the type of stuff that causes most of the country to hate progressives, of which I am a card carrying one.    Very embarrassing.
 

Having a degree in History from George Washington I'm amazed that there is a push to change the name of the moniker at all. Pure ignorance of what Colonials means as it relates to GW. It never meant colonizing Africa, Asia, or South America. Just try and apply the name to a University in France, Spain, England or Portugal. Is there any other school that uses this moniker? Have they changed it? 

Shouldn't only alumni vote on this issue? I would not feel right to try and change the moniker of the U of  Tennessee, even though I have a diploma from the school. I guess earning a degree from GW should allow you to vote. If you haven't put up with all it took to get a degree here, then you shouldn't vote. I don't think students have "earned"  the right to vote on an issue like this.  Are they trying to marginalize the alumni? If so, then there will be a backlash. 

Well said Mentzinger (including great suggested names), LSF and TC, who actually has a GW history degree. Guessing history is not taught at GW any more, at least early U.S. history.
     This is not a campus issue like the brilliant water bottle banning in the midst of a pandemic, or the lack of a cafeteria or food insecurity for some GW students (who are probably more worried about affording college than doing meaningless nickname protests that mock movements for real change) or say, not cruelly laying off janitors and other low-wage workers while paying enormous administrator salaries or millions to Disney for brilliant academic consulting.
   Or the mold that caused hundreds of students to move out of the dorms that students link to the layoffs of said maintenance workers. Or say, the sexual assault that happened on campus in daylight at 5:30 p,m. this week. These are campus GW issues that directly affect students, safety, programs and fair treatment of less-priviliged workers.
    Unless you have a degree from GW, which some of may regret given the constant parade of national land local embarrassments, don't see how you can vote, as TC observes. The name has stood for many years, well beyond anyone attending GW's tenure. If you don't want to graduate from GW (wouldn't blame you at this point), why should you be able to vote?
    A certain amount of dedication and interest should be a minimum to weigh in on this subject. It's not transitory and by the way, it's not cheap.
  This is the least of the arguments, but the money could be better spent. Actually it could be better spent to hire Mickey Mouse himself, rather than this Mickey Mouse campaign of ignorance.
What a great and proud university.
 

Last edited by jf (10/08/2021 1:02 pm)

What The....  these idiots are looking to make change for the sake of change, while ignoring facts and definitions.  What an embarrassment!

Time to stock up on Colonial merchandise.

Changing the name seems dumb.  Not donating to a school one supports because the school changed the name also seems dumb. No longer rooting for the team because the name is different also seems dumb.

To me, this will be a good excuse to buy a new hat. Is it silly? Sure. But so is having a hippo running around as a pseudo mascot for a school called the colonials. And yet, many of us still donate. 

Sure, we could turn this into a discussion about the crazy progressives and make a whole bunch of tongue in cheek comments about how we are marginalized.  Or…or we could accept this and realize that there will still be basketball played with the tiny group of us fans happy to watch a product on the court.  If the GW hippos make the sweet 16, I will be just as happy as I would be if the GW colonials make the sweet 16

keithgreene wrote:

Would everyone be so wrapped around the axle if the University said "we've been in existence for 200 years and for the next 200, we'd like to create a new brand."?  I'm trying to get my arms around all of the consternation.  Is it change?  Is it pride?  Is it something else?

I don't really care but I think if the school said: "we're tired of being called the colonels so we are going with the hippos or whatnot" there would probably be some grumbling but not the same as using some PC pretense to change the name.  As has been written here before we've had a bunch of nicknames before settling on Colonials so it's not like the Colonials name was written into the school's charter from Congress.  

FWIW, Tony Kornheiser's alma mater Binghamton was also the Colonials (named after a building on campus) and now they're the Bear Cats so we're not the only ones that potentially drop the Colonial name.    

If I had a vote for a new name I'd go with the Beagles.  Not only do they have history with presidents (LBJ's dogs were beagles), there are no other D1 schools with the Beagle as a mascot.  George Washington owned foxhounds too so close enough to a Beagle.   

No great new name springs to my mind. My fear is something stupid.

Here's the deal: it has become a matter of principle.
If yeah, we want to change the name to Bearcats because Colonials doesn't work for marketing, let's consider it with input from all the stakeholders. Though it should seem odd with a team named after George Washington that Colonials sounds dumb, as opposed to Binghamton. 
  The Marvin Center was a no-brainer and we should be ashamed that the name was ever on that building. If they want to reconsider naming the university that's something that should be discussed.
And if its time for a better marketing name that will carry us for many more years, fine. Let alumni in on the discussion, don't stack the advisory committee or the board with those who have preconceived notions.
   But this is based on a small number of undergraduates, who may or not graduate, who don't seem to understood elementary school level dictionary definitions or U.S. history. So why should we subject ourselves to their tyranny, when we have rename-ization without representation? Kind of like the original Colonials.
    Do you really want to cave into ignorance in an educational setting?
     What's really interesting is the reaction is so blasé. Ho hum.
Basically, the Athletic Dept has invented myths, to be polite (the L word might be more accurate) in our recent history or kept us in the dark about most everything.
   Other fan bases would be up in arms about less defendable choices. 
    But why wouldn't you care about this if you take the time to be on a basketball board of a cellar-dwelling team weeks before the start of a very low-expectation season? 
   Really tired of GW looking stupid in general, overall as well as athletics, as it's supposed to be a place run by educated administrators attended by smart young people, or at least those who have basic skills to look up a word they can find on the phone that Mommy and Daddy bought them, are supposed to attend.
    Is it too much to ask that a small portion of students, who might notice more pressing issues in the world and their own country torn apart, as well as ongoing deadly pandemic, not ram this down the throat of anyone who graduated from GW? Ratified by those who are supposed to be thoughtfully in charge?