Amid a series of high-profile changes at New College of Florida, the school on Thursday also got a new mascot — the Mighty Banyans.
The mascot, named after trees that can be seen in areas of Sarasota where the school is located, was designed by a student and unveiled Thursday during a meeting of the New College Board of Trustees.
The small liberal arts school in March started an athletics department and hired former Team USA Baseball coach Mariano Jimenez as its athletic director.
Richard Corcoran, New College’s interim president, touted the new mascot Thursday.
In the news: New College Of Florida To Get New Mascot
“The entire origination and what it is, and how it came about, and who brought it about, is more than special. And it’s very unique to New College,” Corcoran told the board.
But Grace Keenan, the student member of the Board of Trustees, pushed back on the selection process. Keenan proposed using the mascot only for athletic teams, giving the student body a chance to select an alternative mascot if it wanted.
The board voted down the proposal after an at-times tense discussion.
“This could have been a really fantastic opportunity for the trustees, for our interim president, to build relationships with the students. And that just did not happen,” Keenan said.
The new mascot includes a reference to the school’s longtime mascot, the Null Set, by including the bracket symbols used in mathematics as the tree’s eyebrows.
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