George Washington University changes mascot name to Revolutionaries

George Washington University announced on Wednesday that the school is changing its nickname and will now be known as the Revolutionaries.

The university said it enlisted students, alumni, faculty and staff to spend 12 months filtering through 8,000 moniker suggestions before landing on the new name, which was approved by the Board of Trustees.

"This is an exciting day for the George Washington University Revolutionaries," President Mark S. Wrighton said in a statement. "I am very grateful for the active engagement of our community throughout the development of the new moniker. This process was truly driven by our students, faculty, staff and alumni, and the result is a moniker that broadly reflects our community—and our distinguished and distinguishable GW spirit."

Last June, the university announced that it would be retiring its previous name, the Colonials. The name was criticized because colonialism is the overtaking of a country by citizens of another, often leading to the persecution and marginalization of the original residents.

"Meet the Press" moderator and George Washington alumnus Chuck Todd hosted a breaking news-style video to share the new name on the school's social media pages. He asked the audience if the name was the Ambassadors, Blue Fog, Revolutionaries or Sentinels before the video changed to clips of the campus and scenes from around Washington D.C. until the big reveal where "Revolutionaries" lit up in fireworks.

The video then showed reactions from students and members of the community as they continue to celebrate the legacy of the school's namesake, General George Washington, who served as the first president of the United States.

"It alludes to the original foundation of our country and it has a modern application as well," graduate student Desiree Winns said.

"Revolutionaries are bold. The embody creativity and passion," Professor Monica Ruiz said. "Revolutionaries are change makers. They're not content with the status quo."

George Washington competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The swimming and diving teams have enjoyed recent success: the men's team has won three titles in a row, while the women's have won back-to-back. The men's basketball team won the NIT championship in 2016.

Other sports teams that have changed their nicknames in recent years due to controversy are the NFL's Washington Commanders and MLB's Cleveland Guardians.