SFU drops sports teams name often confused with Klan
The community spoke, and Simon Fraser University listened. The Clan is no more.
The university officially retired its varsity athletics team name on Wednesday, after a poll of student athletes last year indicated nearly 90 per cent wanted a name change.
A social media campaign by many of the school’s student athletes, “I am not your Clansman,” had a massive response from the public.
After the months-long process conducted by the athletics and recreation department, SFU president Andrew Petter decided on the change.
While the name Clan is representative of the university’s Scottish heritage, it is often misconstrued externally — especially by teams in the U.S., where the school competes as part of the NCAA — as a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. It was a consistent embarrassment for SFU student athletes as they constantly had to explain the etymology of their name to their American counterparts.
“When you’re an American,
the word Clan just really feels like a kick in the gut. And I was really surprised when I found out what our sport team’s name was,” said Holly Andersen, associate professor of philosophy, who’s been part of the vanguard to change the name.
“I think that it’s been one of those weird divides between Canada and the United States,” added the Montana native, who’s been at SFU since 2009 after teaching at the University of Pittsburgh.
“There’s very few words that really have a difference between Canada and the United States, but I think this is one of them. And I think it really hit a heightened level of discussion when we joined the NCAA, since we played exclusively against U.S. teams.”
The change has been part of a larger social reckoning in sports with teams and organizations that are finally facing up to racist names logos or names after decades of defending them. Edmonton’s CFL team recently decided to drop the “Eskimos” name and the Washington NFL team ditched the “Redskins” name.
“As a university, our No. 1 duty is to foster a supportive environment for our students,” Petter said in a news release.
“Our student athletes are dedicated to their sport and education, and negative interactions with others about the persistent misinterpretation or misuse of their team name should not be a burden they have to bear.”
The next part of the process begins in the fall when the school will begin the process of choosing a new name, something Petter promised
There’s very few words that really have a difference between Canada and the United States, but I think this is one of them.”
Holly Andersen
will come by the end of the year. The university will also determine how to honour the Clan team name, which is part of SFU’s long history.
“SFU student athletes are very pleased with the decision to move to a new team name,”
Ryan Stolys, president of the SFU student athlete advisory committee, said in a news release.
Andersen hopes the new name will be one that reflects the cultural tapestry of the university.
“Our student body population is so incredibly diverse … so I’m expecting and really also hoping that the process looks just like that, that it looks like a kind of way of including everybody,” she said.