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More than a year ago, Amherst College announced it would stop using “Lord Jeff” as an unofficial mascot for the institution. Lord Jeffery Amherst was an English general for whom the town of Amherst is named. He died before the college was created and had no direct connection to the college. Many opposed the college honoring him, because in correspondence he proposed the use of smallpox-infested blankets as a weapon of war against Native Americans. It is not clear whether the proposal was carried out.
The college then kicked off a long process of seeking names for a new mascot. Five finalists were selected: Fighting Poets, Mammoths, Purple and White, Valley Hawks, and Wolves. Students, alumni, faculty members and other employees were invited to vote (the process is detailed here) and the winner is the Mammoths. Amherst has several ties to mammoths. Its natural history museum, for example, displays the skeleton of a Columbian mammoth. One nomination for the winning name noted that mammoth "describes something stupendous and monumental, something vast and mighty, something imposing and formidable."
