Note: This news story originally appeared on April 1, 2017, and is an April Fools' Day joke.
Whittier is the home of the Poets, and everyone knows it—but beginning next year, the college will exchange its quills for big tusks and a lot of hair. Introducing: Woolly Whittier.
The switch is spurred by recent news that Amherst College, in Massachusetts, could become the Poets (too). In choosing a new mascot, Amherst gave voters five options, including the Fighting Poets. Poll results have yet to be announced, but in anticipation of no longer being the only Poets on the playing field, Whittier is proactively changing its own mascot to one of Amherst's other choices: the Mammoths.
Johnny Poet, a beloved character in the Whittier community, will be missed. Woolly Whittier takes his place beginning in Fall 2017. In keeping with theme, the Graham Athletic Center's Poet Pit will also be renamed the Tar Pit.
Not only does Woolly Whittier fit in with Southern California's characteristic weather, he also proudly reflects Whittier College's original founding in 400,000 B.C.
To help say goodbye to Johnny Poet, the community offers this farewell Spotify playlist.
