Columbia Lion
The Columbia Lion is the university mascot, adopted in 1910. The idea was originally suggested by George Brokaw (CC 1909). [1] However, the Lion motif had been around campus from before, appearing on the roofs of Low Library and other buildings.
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. A sculpture of the Columbia Lion stands outside Chrystie Field House at Baker Field.
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..
