The elite $60,000-a-year Collegiate School in New York City, the oldest private school in the nation, spent three years debating it’s winking Dutchman mascot and motto – ‘Unless God, then in vain’ – and decided to go woke and kill off the symbols because they could be considered offensive.
The Upper Westside school, which taught John F. Kennedy Jr. and David Duchovny, began looking into it’s mascot and motto in 2019, ultimately considering both potentially offensive after releasing a 400-page report in 2020.
After reviewing the report for two years, the 394-year-old institution refashioned its mascot last week to avoid feelings of excessive eurocentrism, swapping out the winking Dutchman with a silhouetted colonial figure figure holding a lantern.
The motto was also altered to ‘Wisdom, Community, Kindness’ in Latin, and the school also dropped A.D., meaning Year of our Lord, from its seal.
The change has drawn backlash from parents in the school, with one telling the New York Post: ‘A lot of folks think the whole thing was just ridiculous overkill. Four hundred pages? For a mascot? A motto?’
It’s the latest incident of NYC’s elite schools going woke after several schools, like The Spence School and Grace Church School, openly supported the Black Lives Matter protests last year and were accused of teaching wokeness to their students.
The Collegiate School, the oldest private school in the nation, issued a 400 page report finding its winking Dutchman mascot and school motto to be potentially offensive
The woke report was published by the Collegiate School’s History and Symbols Task Force, which surveyed more than 1,600 students, parents faculty and alumni about its mascot, motto and seal.
School officials said both the new motto and logo design were voted on by 3,000 members of its community.
While the task force recommended the school keep its Dutchman name and colors, orange and blue, it suggested changing the image of the mascot because of its representation of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam, who had a peg leg like the mascot.
‘We suggest a simple removal of the peg leg,’ the task force wrote. ‘Peter Stuyvesant was a vehement anti-Semite and ruled by hate and racism. Although, current students may not be personally offended by the mascot, is this the man we want to represent Collegiate? Do his values align with ours?’
Through the task force’s research, it found that overall, students, alumni and parents all viewed the previous mascot positively.
The positive outlooked changed, however, when they were then informed of the history of Peter Stuyvesant and his ties to slavery and anti-Semitism.
Nearly 25 percent of those surveyed said the mascot should be changed, but nearly the same amount said the mascot shouldn’t be changed regardless of its tie to Stuyvesant.
More than 20 percent said they don’t even think the mascot is Stuyvesant.
The task force also agreed to remove A.D. from its seal because of its religious connotations.
‘This community worked diligently to design a process that was inclusive of our community, fully aware that a change such as this would garner a range of reactions,’ school official wrote in a statement.
Some believed the school was going too far with its embrace of woke priorities, with one parent telling the Post: ‘I think the administration is walking a thin line trying to keep everybody happy.’
