A community college in California’s Gold Country is polling students and employees on possible replacements for its longtime mascot, the Claim Jumper.
A pika in the wild. (Boulder Daily Camera)
Columbia College, in Sonora, has for several years been discussing the change. The new survey asks respondents if they want to stick with the Claim Jumper and, if not, which of 27 options they prefer. All the alternatives are from the natural world — animals or plants.
Claim Jumper is a reference to the college’s origins in the 1960s: Part of the campus is on land that had long been held as a mining claim by a man named Leland Davis. A home was built for him on the campus, and he lived there until his death at age 91 in 1985, the Union Democrat newspaper says.
The current logo is the head of a snarling, bearded man with crossed pickaxes behind him.
Those advocating a change don’t always have the same motivations. A resolution that came before the college’s Academic Senate in 2021 criticized the Claim Jumper mascot as an “image of the gold rush culturally associated with stealing and clandestine activities” and as such not aligned with the college’s values, the Union Democrat said.
But Chad Redwing, the college’s interim president since July, cited sluggish merchandise sales and suggested that a rebrand might increase school spirit.
Possible mascots on the survey
Black bear
Grizzly bear
Mountain lion
Wolverine
Deer
Ringtail
Squirrel
Pika
Eagle
Hawk
Kestrel
Peregrine
Owl
California condor
Raven
Stellar’s jay
Acorn woodpecker
Quail
Kingfisher
Duck
Goose
Rattlesnake
Salmon
Monarch butterfly
Spruce
Manzanita
Acorn