Amherst College no longer acknowledges its namesake.

Lord Jeff pondering who to kill next.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was a colonial-era military commander for Great Britain in North America and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces for the crown during the Seven Years' War. In case you're foggy on your numbered-year wars, the Seven Years' War was between those two quarrelsome jamokes, England and France. Lord Amherst was a key figure in the war, where he oversaw key victories in then-French territories like Montreal and Quebec City.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was also not a friendly and benevolent man. He wanted to eradicate the Native American population by dishing out smallpox-coated blankets and implored Great Britain to "try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race." Swell guy.

But benevolence in warfare doesn't win you fame, and fame doesn't exist 250 years ago unless you have a variety of cities and towns in America named after you, especially in the northeast. Take Amherst, MA, named after Lord Jeffery and home to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst College, and Emily Dickinson's agoraphobic ghost.

Except now Amherst College is looking to distance themselves from any association to Lord Jeffery and his use as the school's unofficial mascot. As a number of students, school officials, and the New York Times are quick to point out, Amherst College wasn't named after Lord Jeffery. The college was named after the town! Not the same thing!

((.......................pause........................))

Try not to get a headache overthinking this one. There's a thousand arguments that could be made to kick Lord Jeffery to the curb, but your head will throb if you try to disassociate the town and college's naming origins.