Entering this spring semester — my last at the College of William and Mary — the school faces a number of challenges, but here is a quick solution to one of them: Bring back Colonel Ebirt.

When the jolly green blob, who served as the College’s unofficial mascot at sporting events, was retired by the Athletic Department in 2005, rumors circulated that a new mascot — one that represented the colonial history of the College and the surrounding area — would replace Ebirt.

Not surprisingly, this never happened. The story since then has not been pretty. The NCAA ruled that the College must remove the feathers from its WM logo, deeming them offensive to American Indian groups. Then-College President Gene Nichol chose not to fight the ruling, a decision that many considered a mistake.

When a committee was formed to design a new logo, members were told that they were free to explore the possibility of creating a mascot for the College. They chose not to, and, to make matters worse, the new logo was a failure.

At the beginning of the past fall semester, President Taylor Reveley said that while a new mascot could be a unifying presence for the campus community, it could also turn into a huge mess if the response to the new mascot was unfavorable.

With debilitating state budget cuts and other difficulties — not to mention a tumultuous two-year period in which the College caught national publicity for all the wrong reasons — it’s easy to see why Reveley and others want to avoid any more messes.

This is where Colonel Ebirt (Tribe spelled backwards) comes in. The biggest advantage of the Colonel as a mascot is that it would allow the College to continue to use the Tribe moniker. The College would still be the Tribe, allowing it to continue its current merchandise sales and avoid the necessity of repainting the roads, fields and other athletic facilities.

Ebirt would simply be the physical manifestation that we currently lack, a mascot that could patrol the sidelines at football and basketball games, engage students and families, and enhance school spirit at a College desperately in need of a kick to the rear end.

Now, I should point out that as a lifelong Red Sox fan, I’m incredibly biased toward amorphous green blobs as mascots, but there are more rational reasons for bringing back Ebirt.

First, any physical mascot that would appropriately represent the Tribe name would, in all likelihood, pertain to American Indians, and this is obviously a big no-no for the College. While many of us respect the unifying idea of the tribe as a representation of the College community, it’s hard to see how you would get a mascot out of it.

Without Ebirt, the choice seems to be between not having a mascot and completely overhauling the face of College athletics by transitioning to the Phoenix or the Wren, among other suggestions. Bringing back Ebirt would avoid having to make this difficult choice.

Secondly, Ebirt was incredibly popular in the past. His reign was just before my time, but most people I talked with who attended the College then seemed to love Ebirt.

He wasn’t offensive or controversial. He didn’t really make any sense, but nobody cared. He was a character — one that students came to associate with their school and their sports teams.
Some have argued in the past that a mascot is not necessary— that we have the Tribe, and that’s enough.
Certainly a mascot alone will not improve the College’s athletic programs.

True, a mascot won’t win you games when the head football coach leaves the starting quarterback in after throwing four, five, and then six interceptions in the most pivotal game of the year. However, an appropriate, popular mascot can bring energy and enthusiasm to fans, which contributes to the energy and passion of players.

Ebirt was such a mascot. There’s no reason he should remain retired.

Alexander Ely is a senior at the College.