Jack Godar

Editor-in-Chief

The Board of Trustees has decided that the College of the Holy Cross will keep the Crusader moniker. College of the Holy Cross President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J. and Board Chair John J. Mahoney announced the decision in an email to the Holy Cross community on Saturday night. This decision is the culmination of a months-long process of discernment and reflection.

“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,” Fr. Boroughs and Mahoney wrote. “We are not simply crusaders, we are Holy Cross Crusaders.”

Though the school is keeping the Crusader moniker, the letter stated that the College will look into changing the visual representation of the moniker to something more in line with the Board’s definition of what a Holy Cross Crusader is. In addition to the letter, Boroughs and Mahoney sent out a video message for the community as well, which can be seen below.

Holy Cross has been discussing the appropriateness of the Crusader mascot and moniker since the question was first raised in 2016 by a committee convened regarding the fate of Mulledy Hall(now Brooks-Mulledy). In fall of 2017, Boroughs gathered a working group to gather feedback and lead the discussion on campus about the Crusader mascot and moniker. The working group then reported their findings to the Board of Trustees, who subsequently made the decision.

It should be noted that the decision to keep the Crusader moniker does not affect our decision to change the name of The Crusader student newspaper to The Spire, effective February 9th. Our decision and the Board of Trustees decision were made separately, and with no prior knowledge of the other’s decision.