A private school in New York City has reportedly changed its mascot and logo following an investigation that found it was “offensive.”
Collegiate School’s move drew criticism from some parents who felt it was “woke overkill” to change its “Dutchman” mascot and remove religious references from its motto, the New York Post reported.
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“Enough already. What else are they going to change?” a parent told the New York Post. “How can you take it so seriously? All of a sudden, here is this new awakening and everything must change.”
The K–12 school claims to be the oldest independent school in the United States. It was founded by the Dutch West India Company and the Classis of Amsterdam in 1628 and is almost 394 years old, with the Dutchman logo acting as a nod to the school’s founding. The old logo featured a winking Dutchman with a peg leg and will be replaced with a silhouette figure holding a lantern. The sticker price for the school’s tuition is $57,800.
The school began investigating the mascot in 2019. It set up a 17-person task force that produced a 407-page report in 2020 concluding the school needed to adjust its motto and mascot logo. The report found some people might find the old “Dutchman” logo “offensive” and “problematic.” It noted some people thought the old mascot looked like a slave-owner.
“A mascot should be a unifying force, not a divisive one,” the report said. “The current Mascot caricature is offensive to many within the community with respect to race and disability.”
In addition to changing the logo, the school also removed a reference to God in its motto. It changed its motto from “Unless God, then in vain” to “Wisdom, Community, Kindness” written in Latin, according to the New York Post. It also eliminated “A.D.” on the founding date of its seal due to its religious overtones.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to representatives of the school for comment but did not immediately receive a response. School officials said over 3,000 members of its community voted on the changes, the Daily Mail reported.
Not all parents were upset with the changes.
“The mascot is not welcoming to a diverse group,” a parent told the New York Post. “We have to be neutral. We live in a multicultural city with different religions, and if it’s offensive to even one group of people, then remove it. What about families that are atheist?”
