George Washington University has made the decision to retire its use of the "Colonials" moniker, citing“ division among the community about the moniker” as the reason.
According to si.com, the university's board of trustees announced the move on Wednesday.
“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 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 school will continue the use of the "Colonials" until a new name is introduced, which is estimated to happen sometime in the 2023-24 academic year.
“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,” president Mark S. Wrighton said in the release. “I am very excited for our next steps together.”
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