A movement to change Simon Fraser University’s sports team nickname is building steam, amid a new petition and social media campaign.
SFU’s sports teams are known as “The Clan,” a reference to explorer Simon Fraser’s Scottish heritage.
But it is often misinterpreted as a reference to the white supremicist group the Ku Klux Klan, particularly in the U.S.
That’s an issue for SFU athletes, who are the only Canadian college athletes to play in the U.S.-based NCAA.
“Not a lot of people understand it in (the Scottish) sense, that’s not their first thought,” said former SFU basketball player Othneil Spence.
“It’s hard to go on road trips and continually be asked about the name, about The Clan. ‘Why is your school named The Clan?'”
Spencer has created a petition calling for a name change that has attracted more than 7,500 signatures in the last three weeks.
He’s also among SFU athletes that have taken to social media with the “I am not your Clansman” campaign.
“I think the I am not your Clansman movement is to show that athletes are fed up at this point, and there is change that is needed to be made, and people in the upper levels need to take action,” SFU football player Mason Glover told Global News.
Debate over the team name is not new.
An SFU professor led a petition calling for a new name several years ago, and a survey of of SFU athletes last year found 77 per cent wanted the name changed.
Former SFU football player Matthew Edwards told Global News the school’s administration had promised it was listening to students about the issue, but never took any concrete steps.
“We decided that enough is enough. We wanted to be heard. We are going to be heard. And now is the time, we’re seeing it all throughout the world,” he said.
“Frankly this should have happened a long time ago.”
The university is expected to make a decision on the team name before classes resume in the fall.
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