Ongoing School Mascot Debate

By Emily Boucher

At the present time, Shrewsbury High School is in the middle of a heated, controversial, and ongoing debate concerning the school mascot. This discussion began when a letter was presented to the Shrewsbury School Committee requesting that the school mascot, the “Colonial”, be changed due to its racial insensitivity and negative connotation regarding colonialism. A petition to change the school mascot was created, and eventually a counter-petition to keep the mascot was also established. As of now, over 1,200 people have signed the petition to reform the school mascot while over 3,300 people have signed the petition to preserve it.

The initial letter to the School Committee argued that, “the colonial empires of the past as well as the colonial policies that continue today are not something we should be proud of. If we really understood the harm of colonial policies, we wouldn’t want that to be our identity.” In the description of the petition to maintain the mascot, the creator argued, “this is a long standing tradition in Shrewsbury, we are the colonials! Please help protect our mascot and tradition from this political correctness gone too far.” As displayed by the contrasting perspectives above, this is a disputed topic and is full of emotional and sensitive opinions due to the links to racism, culture, history, heritage, and identity.

This petition was sparked by the recent actions all across the country that have been taken to change the names of mascots, sports teams, and other titles in hopes to make them more sensitive to different cultures and races. And although this issue is extremely important, it is also extremely controversial. The SHS community is definitely divided when it comes to its opinion, but that does not validate negative comments and hateful spreading of opinions from either side. It is crucial to discuss ideas in a respectful manner and be mindful of what is said, done, and posted in-person or online.

The School Committee decided the best way to handle the situation would be to form an ad hoc group consisting of 15 members that fell into the different categories of SHS students, SHS faculty/staff, current SHS parents, SHS alumni, and SHS administrators. In his email sent to students in November, Superintendent Joe Sawyer described the goal of the group: “The SHS Mascot Ad Hoc Study Group will be charged with investigating the origins of the mascot at SHS; learning about the mascot’s historical context; soliciting and considering viewpoints regarding the how the mascot is perceived currently as a representation of the school community; sharing its findings with the community; and ultimately making a recommendation to the School Committee regarding whether to maintain or change the mascot.”

The ad hoc study group conducted its first meeting a few weeks ago, and has another meeting coming up later this week. It will be interesting to hear the final decision regarding the mascot, but until then Shrewsbury High School will still be represented by the “Colonial”. The school may have differing opinions, but despite the mascot SHS will still be one united student body, and debates like these are what makes the community stronger.