George Washington University officials announced the school will retire the “Colonials” name used by its athletic teams, citing “division among the community about the moniker.”

The name will remain in use until the university introduces a new one, planned for the 2023-24 academic year.

The name has drawn growing criticism for celebrating colonialism.

“The board recognizes the significance of changing the university’s moniker, and we made this decision only after a thoughtful and deliberate process that followed the renaming framework and special committee recommendation that considered the varying perspectives of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and athletics community,” Grace Speights, GWU board chair, said in the announcement. “A moniker must unify our community, draw people together and serve as a source of pride. We look forward to the next steps in an inclusive process to identify a moniker that fulfills this aspiration.” 

The move comes two years after the school renamed its student center — formerly called the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center and named for the ex-university president who advocated for segregation.

The special committee made up of GWU faculty, staff, students, alumni, members of the athletics department and experts on the school’s history recommended the name change.

“We have a great opportunity to conduct an inclusive process that will determine how we as a community want to come together around a unifying moniker and showcase ourselves as a distinguished and distinguishable university,” president Mark S. Wrighton said in the release. “I am very excited for our next steps together.”