Holy Cross student, faculty group wants Crusader decision revisited

Grant Welker Merchandise at the Holy Cross bookstore last year featured shirts with and without the Crusader name.

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By Zachary Comeau

A group of nearly 150 current and former students, faculty and staff wrote a letter to College of the Holy Cross President Philip Boroughs and the Board of Trustees urging them to reconsider the decision to keep the Crusader name.

In the letter, the group listed a number of concerns regarding the announcement of the decision, the limited details regarding how the decision was made and the lack of a plan to address the issue going forward.

The decision to keep the name, announced earlier this month, follows a lengthy discussion about changing the name, which is linked to the Crusades, a series of holy wars in the Medieval era.

The term is also used by the Ku Klux Klan as the name of the hate group's official newspaper.

After an open discussion was held on Feb. 12, the group found several issues with the school's process and decision, which was made in a closed-door session on Feb. 3.

The group cites the mascot itself, which is a knight yielding a sword and shield.

"He is a symbol of religious intolerance directly tied to the violent Medieval Crusades, not a person pursuing peace and justice," the group wrote.

The group also asked Burroughs and the board to acknowledge the decision was not widely accepted among the college community.

"The decision regarding the Crusader mascot and moniker has significant repercussions on our community’s identity and its relationship to the world," the group wrote. "The weight of this impact must be expressed clearly and kept in mind while considering future decisions regarding marketing and branding for the school."

The letter asks for more clarity on the financial pressures factored into the decision and urges the administration to revisit the decision after the college's "Become More" capital campaign ends in 2020.

"We realize that the college’s ability to live its mission in meaningful ways (providing financial aid, fair salaries for employees, etc.) relies greatly on the trust, pride and support of the community as a whole," the group wrote. "However, it is important to openly acknowledge the weight that financial pressures played upon the decision, in order to promote unity and understanding amongst the community."