The nickname for Holy Cross is the Crusaders. And, not surprisingly, the school’s newspaper is called The Crusader, a weekly newspaper published by the students of this small Jesuit college in Worchester, Massachusetts. DU athletic fans may recall that this university is the landing spot for former DU head basketball coach Joe Scott.
Now faculty are calling for a name change for the newspaper. Why? Because the Ku Klux Clan also publishes a newspaper called ‘The Crusader’. Four dozen members of the Holy Cross faculty wrote the student newspaper last month to express concerns over its name, and its editors have since agreed to move forward with a potential rebranding.
Holy Cross’ nonprofit, nonpartisan student newspaper was originally called “Tomahawk,” but it was changed after 30 years in 1955 to “The Crusader,” the school’s mascot.
Even though the Holy Cross newspaper has no association with the KKK, the use of the term ‘Crusader’ by an extremist fringe group was enough for the Holy Cross faculty to caution about those values being associated with Holy Cross values, image, and beliefs. Or else, they believe that people may actually confuse the KKK’s The Crusader newspaper with the Holy Cross The Crusader newspaper.
There are other issues identified with the Crusader moniker and current academia as well – not unlike a mascot and team name we are quite familiar with in Denver.
Last year a grade school in Denver, Denver Christian, dropped the Crusader name after using the Crusaders mascot for 65 of the school’s 100-year history. Administrators were concerned about the association with the Crusades, a series of wars between Christians and Muslims would make the Christian schools less welcoming.
Susquehanna University dropped the Crusader name the year before based on its potential offensiveness to non-Christians.
The purpose of the Crusades was to free the lands of the Holy Roman Empire from Invaders. Some of these teachers should crack a book and learn history.
The purpose of the Crusades was to free the lands of the Holy Roman Empire from Invaders. Some of these teachers should crack a book and learn history.
While there were attempts to clear invaders from Central Europe, there were also several “Crusades” by Christians to the Middle East to, you know, free the “holy lands” from the Muslims, who had had already been there for 400+ years (as Muslims). And also a Crusade to push Jews out of the Rheinlands,too… Plenty of bloodshed in the Name of the Cross, hence today’s concerns over the Crusader name. That said, most civilizations killed the people who were there originally – that the story of civilization, and that’s how the world works. Every civilization has someone’s blood on their hands…
While there were attempts to clear invaders from Central Europe, there were also several “Crusades” by Christians to the Middle East to, you know, free the “holy lands” from the Muslims, who had had already been there for 400+ years (as Muslims). And also a Crusade to push Jews out of the Rheinlands,too… Plenty of bloodshed in the Name of the Cross, hence today’s concerns over the Crusader name. That said, most civilizations killed the people who were there originally – that the story of civilization, and that’s how the world works. Every civilization has someone’s blood on their hands…