Colgate Raiders

From Hoopedia

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college located in the Village of Hamilton in Madison County, New York, USA. It was originally founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary, but has since become non-denominational.

80% of Colgate students are involved in sports on three different levels, varsity, club and intramural. Approximately 25% of students are involved in varsity athletics. There are 23 varsity teams, over 40 club sports teams, and 18 different intramural sports.

Colgate plays as part of either the Patriot League or the ECAC Hockey League, depending on the sport.

For much of its history, Colgate's sports teams were called the "Red Raiders." The origin of the name is disputed -- some claim it was in reference to the school color, maroon, while others say that it was a reference to the team's ability to defeat its much larger rival, the Cornell University "Big Red." In the 1970s, the school debated changing the name because of concerns that it was offensive to Native Americans. At that time the name was kept, but the mascot was changed from a Native American to a hand holding a torch. In 2001, a group of students approached the administration with the concern that the name "Red Raiders" still implied a Native American mascot. The school agreed to drop the word "Red" from the team name starting in the 2001-02 school year, due to concerns about the lingering association of "Red" with previously used Native American iconography (whether or not the use of the term "Red" was intended as such).