The post-secondary college that sits excessive on Burnaby Mountain has lastly chosen a brand new staff identify for its varsity athletics sports activities groups.

Simon Fraser College sports activities groups will now be often known as the “Pink Leafs.”

“Grounded within the college’s sturdy and wealthy athletic historical past, athletes and coaches have competed beneath SFU’s iconic leaf for generations and it’s acknowledged as a logo of unity throughout its campuses,” mentioned Will Henderson, an SFU spokesperson.

“The Pink Leafs displays the college’s id as Canada’s solely NCAA staff and unifies their numerous group beneath that banner.”

The brand new branding comes after years of debate over the previous identify generally dubbed “The Clan.”

There was a protracted report of individuals in opposition to the outdated identify and its frequent comparability to the Ku Klux Klan, which put SFU athletes in danger, based on an SFU philosophy professor.

“The identify we (performed) beneath (was) shared with a white supremacist group in america that could be very energetic and that freely and brazenly marches,” Holly Andersen instructed World Information in 2020.

“Our scholar athletes who play(ed) beneath this staff identify in america (underwent) racist taunts and racist harassment. They’ve (had) different scholar athletes attempt to decide fights with them due to the disrespectful nature of the identify and the way it’s perceived in america.”

Simon Fraser College is the one Canadian staff within the American NCAA’s Division II, which means its athletes regularly journey to the U.S. to compete.

“I’m proud that the college is transferring ahead beneath the Pink Leafs identify,” mentioned SFU president Pleasure Johnson.

“We really feel it captures the heritage and spirit of SFU, and its distinctive function in collegiate sports activities. After lots of session, we have now heard that it’s a identify that everybody in our group will be pleased with and I can’t wait to cheer on our groups collectively.”

The brand new identify was chosen after session with college students, student-athletes, employees, in addition to Indigenous and educational leaders on the post-secondary college.

The rebranded SFU Pink Leafs will unveil their new look with a launch occasion on Sept. 8 earlier than the ladies’s volleyball staff’s sport.

The soccer staff will debut their new threads at their residence opener on Sept. 17 at SFU Stadium.