Columbia Lion
Columbia University adopted the lion as school mascot in 1910. The idea was originally suggested by George Brokaw (CC 1909). [1]
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 Journalism School alumni, Howard Dietz (CC 1917), 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.
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..