Emma Ambroziac / The Mossy Log
Last Semester, on Sept. 18, Lewis and Clark President Robin Holmes-Sullivan announced that the current Pioneer mascot will be retired and the selection process for a new mascot will be managed by The Mascot Advisory and Selection Committee (MASC). The announcement came after the results of a survey sent to students, staff, faculty and alumni in early 2024 found that only 38% of respondents overall believe that the Pioneer mascot is an appropriate mascot for the college today.
On Jan. 27 of this year, a survey was sent to the entire LC community inviting individuals to submit nominations for a potential new mascot. Respondents are limited to one response each, but may submit up to three nominations within that response. The MASC website includes various selection factors to consider when submitting a nomination including “whether the nominated mascot is one that the L&C community can rally behind” and “whether the nominated mascot will support the ongoing development of strong community practices, traditions, and rituals.”
However, the website notably states that the nomination of “Pioneers, Newfoundlands, or any derivative thereof” and “Nominations that are identical or similar to another mascot or college nickname in the Northwest Conference or region (e.g. Ducks, Beavers, Huskies, Cougars)” will not be considered if submitted.
“The goal is to have a process in which community members — students, staff, faculty, and alumni — collectively build school spirit and excitement as we engage in choosing a new mascot. That’s why the first stage is to elicit nominations from across the community,” said LC Director of Public Relations Lois Leveen in a statement on behalf of the administration.
Once the survey closes, nominations are to be reviewed by MASC.
“In creating MASC, there was particular attention to including student representatives from a range of organizations and groups, including ASB, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (as well as individual student-athletes), RAs, New Student Peer Mentors, etc. We also have staff from Student Life, Institutional Research, Alumni and Parent Engagement, and from all three parts of L&C (CAS, GSEC, and Law),” Leveen said. “Once the nomination period ends, members of MASC will use a variety of methods to evaluate the submissions, including pairwise comparisons, ranked listings, and group deliberations, with the goal of announcing finalists by May.”
Once these finalists have been announced, the LC community will vote on which option they would like to become the school’s new official mascot. The committee projects a new mascot to be announced in fall of this year.
Whitney Schilling ’27 is a member of MASC. She elaborated on what the nomination review process will look like.
“We’re going to look through all the nominations, and we’re going to figure out which mascots are appropriate, which seem to fit the values of Lewis & Clark as an institution, what we would like to represent us athletically and as a school,” she said. “Mascots that aren’t the most popular won’t necessarily be chosen, but of course, (we will consider) which ones that students are really hoping for.”
Schilling said that, personally, she has not thought of any ideas to submit, though members of the committee are allowed to submit ideas for consideration. However, she is excited by the students she has heard discussing several interesting options.
“I really like the idea of using the critters around Lewis & Clark to represent us. And I like the idea of the deer, owls, that kind of thing,” she said.
And though it is expected that community members will have different opinions on different finalists, Schilling hopes that the community can ultimately come together around whichever mascot is selected.
“I think all critters are good critters. So I think hopefully it’ll be something that, maybe it’s not students’ first choice, but it’s something that we can all enjoy and unite around. And we’ll have the Pioneer gone, which overwhelmingly we know students did not want to keep,” she said, referencing the results of the survey conducted in the spring of 2024.
The Pioneer mascot, originally depicted as a short-lived character named “Pioneer Pete” during the 1950s, became a Newfoundland named “Pio” in 2008. According to the MASC website, merchandise featuring the new mascot will be phased in, although community members are encouraged to keep merchandise containing the old mascot as an attachment to their time at the college.
The Newfoundland statue in front of Pamplin Sports Center, affectionately known as “Seaman,” will not be removed.
However, members of the community may not nominate Newfoundlands to be the new mascot due to the association of the breed with European imperialism in Canada and the erasure of Indigenous culture and history.
Several other institutions have undergone similar transitions in recent years.
“Back in 2005, the NCAA issued standards that pushed many colleges and universities to change their mascots, specifically ones that reference Native Americans (real or imagined). In separate efforts, Whitman College, once known as the Missionaries, changed their mascot in 2016 to the Blues (for the mountain range),” Leveen said. “George Washington University is using the same visual it has long used so technically did not change its ‘mascot’ but changed the moniker (this is a distinction GWU made) by which they refer to the mascot, which had been the Colonials and is now the Revolutionaries.”
Other Division III universities that have recently changed their mascot include Amherst College, who transitioned from the Lord Jeffs to the Mammoths in 2016, Capital University, who transitioned from the Crusaders to the Comets in 2021, Kenyon College, who transitioned from the Lords and Ladies to the Owls in 2022, and Western Connecticut State University, who transitioned from the Colonials to the Wolves in 2022.
The mascot nomination survey will be open until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The link to submit an idea can be found in your email. Look for an email titled “L&C Mascot Nomination Survey Now Open!” to submit your ideas.
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