WORCESTER, Mass. — Officials at the Roman Catholic Holy Cross College in Massachusetts have decided the school will continue to be known as the Crusaders.
The board of trustees at Holy Cross in Worcester affirmed the name Saturday after months of discussion about the appropriateness of the medieval knight as the college's moniker and mascot.
In an email to the college community, Holy Cross' president, the Rev. Philip Boroughs, and board chair John J. Mahoney say the college is choosing to associate itself with the modern meaning of the word crusader "which is representative of our Catholic, Jesuit identity and our mission and values as an institution."
The student newspaper, however, announced Friday it'll ditch "The Crusader" name and become "The Spire." The staff says the change is because of the "violence and massacres" of the medieval Crusades.
The decision was made at the end of last semester, but the announcement was made on the front page of the school's paper - the very last "Crusader" to be printed.
"We felt that we couldn't separate the religious violence and that sort of imagery connected with the Crusader name with our newspaper," said Editors-in-Chief Jack Godar and James Gallagher, seniors at Holy Cross.
"It's not the type of Catholicism we necessarily want to be identifying with," said Godar and Gallagher.
Many believe the weekly paper made its decision because of the KKK newspaper that shares the same name, but they insist its not the case.
"The KKK newspaper is, its silly to talk about it because its so poorly circulated and was created years after the Crusader that we didn't consider it," Godar and Gallagher said.
The conversation has been controversial as many have been calling the decision a classic case of being too politically correct, where some are calling them 'snowflakes'.
You can read the school's full statement below:
Dear Members of the Holy Cross Community,
Today our Board of Trustees engaged in an important and robust conversation about the appropriateness of our Crusader mascot and moniker. Our exchange was the culmination of a discussion we as a community have been undertaking for several months. Many of you participated in this discussion through submitting thoughtful and informed feedback via our website, letters, and emails or through campus listening sessions. Thank you for your input; it was immeasurably helpful in informing our deliberation.
After a process of individual discernment over the past three weeks and then thorough group discussion this morning, the members of the Board reaffirmed that we at Holy Cross will continue to be known as the Crusaders.
In 1925, our students chose the moniker "Crusader" to represent them. The literal definition of the word, "one who is marked by the cross of Christ," was appropriate for our institution's Jesuit and Catholic intellectual and spiritual tradition. Our students, faculty, staff, and alumni have continued in that tradition, and through their work and lives have defined what it means to be a Holy Cross Crusader: We are crusaders for human rights, social justice, and care for the environment; for respect for different perspectives, cultures, traditions, and identities; and for service in the world, especially to the underserved and vulnerable. We engage in dialogue between faith and reason and uphold the importance of reflective learning, critical thinking, thoughtful analysis and holistic education that encompasses the health of body, mind and spirit. With a rigorous Catholic and Jesuit liberal arts education, we prepare our students to make a difference in the world.
While we acknowledge that the Crusades were among the darkest periods in Church history, we choose to associate ourselves with the modern definition of the word crusader, one which is representative of our Catholic, Jesuit identity and our mission and values as an institution and community. We are not simply crusaders, we are Holy Cross Crusaders.
With this in mind, the Board also has asked the College administration to take this opportunity to assess how the visual representation of a Holy Cross Crusader can best align with this definition.
As many of you know, earlier this week the editors of the student newspaper made their own decision regarding the name Crusader, choosing to move away from it in favor of a new name. It is important to note that the student newspaper is editorially independent of the College, and that their decision-making process was completely separate from the Board's. In engaging in their own process of research and dialogue, these students have demonstrated a commitment to the kind of self-reflection and critical thinking we seek to nurture here at Holy Cross, and they have made a difficult decision with thoughtfulness and purpose.
We put together the video above so that you could learn more about the Board's decision and rationale.
Thank you all for your thoughtful engagement in this process and your support as we move forward as a community.
Sincerely,
John Mahoney, Chair of the Board of Trustees
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Cox Media Group
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