Name-a-Day Calendar, January 2: Columbia Lions
Page 57 of 365
Chosen in: 1910
Chosen by: Alumnus George Brokaw Compton
Columbia University can’t decide if it wants to be American or British. At least, that’s what I’m left to assume based on how they chose their university name and how they chose their mascot.
First, the former. Like most Ivy League institutions, Columbia University outdates the United States of America and was originally established in British colonial territory.1 It was founded by a royal charter of King George II in 1754 and thus originally called King’s College. Of course, a couple decades later, the American Revolution happened and the college was no longer under the King’s reign.
More importantly, the college was a total shell of itself as it had been forced to suspend operations for eight years. Its campus was occupied by both armies at various points during the war and British forces didn’t leave New York until after the 1783-84 academic year had begun. The college asked the State of New York for help getting back on track and the State said yes, but one of the conditions of their assistance was changing the name of the school to Columbia College: a very American name.
A little over a century later, athletics at Columbia were in full swing and the school wanted a mascot. At an April 5, 1910, meeting of the Alumni Association, George Brokaw Compton ‘09 suggested the lion as a nod to the school’s heritage as a royal British institution; the lion is prominently featured on the United Kingdom’s coat of arms. A lot of people had extremely valid opposition to this suggestion, including even the student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator. Some thought the school should adopt the American eagle rather than the British lion; others thought Matilda the Harlem Goat, a local goat beloved by students, should be elevated to mascot status.
Despite the controversy, the Board of Student Representatives approved the mascot on May 4, 1910, and it’s remained for 113 years. It’s also left a pretty big legacy outside the realms of sports and higher education: in 1919, Howard Dietz ‘17 became the director of publicity for Goldwyn Pictures and, taking inspiration from his alma mater, adopted the lion as their symbol. Five years later, Goldwyn Pictures would merge with two other studios to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which has kept the lion roaring before its movies for almost a century.
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The only Ivy that wasn’t: Cornell University, established in 1865.