The private Washington, D.C., school has received backlash since at least 2019 from some of its student body, when students started a petition for a name change because Colonials was found to be "extremely offensive by not only students of the university, but the nation and world at large."
The school announced in summer 2022 that it would officially begin to discontinue the use of the name after nearly 100 years with the moniker. The George Washington University Colonials officially became the "Revolutionaries" with a May 24, 2023, special announcement on the school's news site.