Arts college drops symbol of white oppression “Lord Jeff” as mascot

Lord Jeffery was known in Amherst as a man who advocated giving Native Americans smallpox-infected blankets

Lord Jeffery Amherst encouraged the 'demise' of Native Americans (Alamy)

A liberal arts college in Massachussetts has officially dropped its “Lord Jeff” mascot after protests that the man was a symbol of white oppression.

Amherst College decided to ditch Lord Jeffery from any college-related documents or buildings, as part of a wave of protests and campaigns on student campuses across America to detach themselves associations to a white patriarchy of racism and slavery.

The protests gained traction last year but the Trustees finally made the decision to change the mascot this week.

Amherst College said on Tuesday that they had received hundreds of messages from alumni, students and others to abandon the ties with the 18th-century figure. They said would find a new mascot and a new name for the Lord Jeffery Inn, a hotel owned by the college.

Lord Jeffery Amherst advocated giving Native Americans in the area blankets that were infested with deadly smallpox to “hasten their demise”, as reported by The New York Times.

Board of Trustees Chair Cullen Murphy wrote in a statement: “To those who argue that stepping back from Lord Jeff as an unofficial mascot takes us down some sort of slippery slope that calls into question the name of the town or the College, the board would respond that you can find slippery slopes anywhere you look, that real life isn’t a philosophy class or court of law, and that people long ago figured out the common-sense way to deal with slippery slopes: just draw the line.”

Lord Jeffery was a military commander who led British victories in the French and Indian War. The town, and several others, was named after him.

The Lord wrote in 1763: “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.”

He died a generation before the College was founded. Controversy over his name as unofficial mascot started in the 1970s when women fought for co-education and argued against the use of Lord Jeffery due to his gender.