Curry College, located in Milton, Massachusetts, has been the Curry Colonels for numerous decades now. Today, the college announced that it will be retiring it's Colonel mascot. Why? It's not a coincidence this is happening in the wake of George Floyd's death, an event that set off national outcries over social injustice. Curry claims: “It has become clear in a variety of ways that the Colonel mascot image has become a source of concern. In light of this, Curry College has made the decision to retire the Colonel mascot image.” As of right now the school is still going to be called the Colonels but they will conduct a survey of the larger campus community, including students and families, faculty, staff, and alumni, to determine the continued use of the Colonels name.
For those who do not know, Curry College is actually my Alma Mater. I went to school there for 4 years and lived on campus for a majority of that. We've always been the Colonels and NEVER once during my time at college, and let me tell you, it wasn't a campus occupied by all white kids, has our mascot been criticized or brought up as an imagery of "concern". Furthermore, the majority of the students I went to school with, were outspoken, and I would say had more of a liberal viewpoint so wouldn't you think they would have said something then if the mascot was blatantly "racist" or "insensitive"? I digress though, let me ask the question as to how in the world a colonel is "concerning"? Is it because a colonel is an army officer of higher rank? Is the authority of it a threat because we live in a society where there are movements to defund the police? Is it because the mascot is depicted as a White colonel? Seriously tell me because it makes no sense to myself or any of my fellow alums that I have spoken to today about this. I think it's ridiculous that the college is caving into something that does not exist in our mascot. Is our mascot of the Colonel supposed to be racist because he's White because if that's the notion, that's absolutely prejudice. With that being said, I have heard from some that the imagery of the mascot appears to look like a "Southern" colonel during Civil War times...that idea never dawned on me before and now that I look at it, I can only maybe catch onto what some are saying and I think it's a stretch. If anything the imagery looks like KFC's Colonel Sanders! Or to be honest, actor Sam Elliot in Tombstone and that's bad-ass. Do some think the Colonel looks likes like Robert E. Lee and thus racist? Just because someone is a White male with white hair and a white mustache, wearing a cowboy hat, doesn't make them a "Southern racist" or ignorant towards African Americans...it's a common look among cowboys not exclusive to one person, and especially older cowboys like I mentioned, Sam Elliot in Tombstone...
This is a letter that was put out by President Quigley:
If we change the mascot to that of another human, you're going to have a problem because it has to be inclusive of all and someone is inevitably going to get offended if it's a male and not a female, dark colored skin and not lighter colored skin, etc. Everything is offensive nowadays and the White male is the #1 offensive image and to be honest it's quite sad. In the efforts to make things inclusive for all, you don't need to put down someone else because it's going directly against your initial efforts. I'll be voting when they send out a survey to the alums and you better believe I will not be voting to eliminate the mascot name The Colonels!
-Producer Lightning