Columbia Lion

Athletics Lion Logo

The Columbia Lion is the university mascot, adopted in 1910. The idea was originally suggested by George Brokaw Compton (CC 1909). ^[1] However, the Lion motif had been around campus from before, appearing on the roofs of Low Library and other buildings.

The idea was first proposed at the April 5, 1910 meeting of the Alumni Association, where it was enthusiastically endorsed. The resolution by Compton was accompanied by the presentation of a blue and white banner emblazoned with a rampant lion and the motto "Leo Columbiae" by the alumni of the early 1880s.

As is natural at Columbia, the resolution was the focus of some controversy, carried mostly in the form of a furious month-long exchange of letters and editorials published in the Spectator. Some argued that the lion was too royalist and that the eagle was a more appropriate symbol. Others lobbied for the adoption of Matilda the Harlem Goat as the school mascot. The Spectator, of course, also weighed in with its opposition to the Lion, coming down on the wrong side of history. But by May 4, the Student Board had approved the lion mascot.

However, the mascot proved to be a dud initially. This may have been a result of the school's ban on football. Anyway, with the opening of Baker Field, the Class of 1899 decided to grace the field with a bronze lion for its 25th anniversary year. The Lion was sculpted by Frederick G. R. Roth, and placed on a plinth with three quotes from scripture. The Lion was originally located atop a rocky ledge overlooking the football practice field from the east side of the complex. In 1962, the sculpture and plinth were moved 80 yards to just outside Christie Field House to make way for the baseball and soccer fields.

In 1928, the Columbia mascot took on a more visible position as the logo for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and subsequently MGM after the studio's merger. MGM's lion, "Leo", was the creation of Howard Dietz (CC 1917, J '?), who created it for Goldwyn Pictures while working for the Philip Goodman Advertising Agency^[2]. It is said that he was inspired by Columbia's fight song, "Roar, Lion, Roar".

Other appearances of the lion around campus include "The Scholar's Lion," a sculpture outside Havemeyer facing the Business School which was gifted to the university in 2004, and the "Teaching Lion" in Butler Library. A sculpture of the Columbia Lion stands outside Chrystie Field House at Baker Field, a gift of the class of 1899 presented in 1924.

The Lion Mascot

On October 15, 2005 Columbia debuted its revamped college mascot, Roar-ee. Roar-ee beat out other would-be mascots, Hamilton, Hudson, K.C.and J.J..

Roar-ee
Roar-ee's unnamed predecessor who bears a suspicious resemblance to Disney's character The Beast.

The Lion Logo

Like any school logo, the Columbia's lion logo has had many forms. The most recent form was adopted in 2000, replacing a logo that had earned the derogatory nickname "lettucehead."^[3] The logo featured a front profile of a lion with paw extended, and appeared either with or without the New York City skyline in the background.

In 2005, as part of a re-branding effort by new AD M. Diane Murphy that also included the introduction of Roar-ee, the logo's colors were lightened, and the skyline and lion's tail were dropped.^[4] The following year the entire body was scrapped, leaving only the lion's roaring head under the school's name. However, the bookstore uses all iterations of the logo indiscriminately on merchandise and apparel (as it also does with the Columbia Crown).