The University of Winnipeg is looking to rebrand their athletics programs to be more gender inclusive.
The university’s sports teams have been known as the Wesmen since the name was adopted in the 1920s, an historical reference to the university’s founding colleges, Wesley and Manitoba.
The name has been debated by senior administration members for the last 20 years. However, the university now wants a proper consultation to coincide with the construction of a $41-million health and recreation complex that will be integrated with their existing athletics facility. The new complex is scheduled to be completed in 2014.
“It was a collective decision [to begin consultation],” said Jeremy Read, senior executive officer and adviser to the president. “If we are going to change the [Wesmen] name and rebrand, then this is the best time to do it.”
The consultation would likely be completed by the end of the fall, but Read was quick to note that the university wanted to discuss any potential rebranding of its athletics programs with its campus population.
“What we would want to do is consult our students, our faculty, the staff, our internal community as well as our alumni, and then more broadly, talk to our wider community about it.”
The shift toward gender inclusivity among varsity sports programs is not unprecedented.
In the last few years, several Canadian universities have embraced more inclusive monikers that better reflect the growing number of women taking part in university sport.
As recently as 2003, York University adopted the Lions nickname, believing it to be more acceptable than their previous name, the York Yeomen.
The discussions have not been embraced by everyone on the University of Winnipeg campus.
Several students, athletes, and alumni have created a “Save the Wesmen” Facebook group that has almost 700 members. Many members have voiced strong feelings opposing any rebranding effort by the university, citing the importance of retaining the school’s identity and rich history.
“Everything has to be pushed to political correctness in the hope of not offending anyone. I say keep it as Wesmen. It is a tradition and a name. Whoever came up with the idea needs to look at other issues that actually matter within the University,” Refinnej Jecoy posted in the group.
“I’m all for gender-inclusive language and equality,” added Justin Woodruff, a bachelor of arts student at the university. “I just don’t think this move achieves that.”
Kristin Boivin, a fourth-year student at York University, said she thinks changing the name is a good idea.
“If we start focusing on little things that we can change to become more gender inclusive, it’ll inspire change in greater issues,” Boivin said. “Just changing the one word of “person” was how women became able to vote.”
Boivin said the idea of “tradition” should not be a reason to keep the old team name.
“The whole tradition of a team name is that it embodies the players. If the name doesn’t include all members of the team, you’re excluding them,” Boivin said.
“There are a lot of things that existed in the 1920s that we don’t have anymore. Traditions change,” she said.
Read said he is happy that the U of Winnipeg community is actively debating the issue.
“As a university, we are pleased that our alumni, our student body, our faculty, our community, and the wider community is engaged on this issue. That tells us something about the kinds of support there is for our athletics programs and our athletes,” he said.
“We are built around asking questions, having discussions, having debates. I think this is a healthy thing for a university community to do.”
