Ben Lepper ’25
The “Non-Denominational Mr. Winter” From That One Episode of Community
You have probably heard about the Cornelius B. Prior lawsuit at this point. Well, unfortunately, that’s far from the only lawsuit that the school is currently battling.
The Spire has learned about a suit that was filed about a year ago titled Concerned Alumnus v. Holy Cross. The plaintiff is suing the school for $100,000,000 over a simple social media post in which the school said “Happy Holidays,” an entirely harmless and completely normal way to wish people of all backgrounds and traditions a happy holiday season.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff argues that by saying “Happy Holidays,” the school is being extremely offensive to those who do not want to hear the term “Happy Holidays.” It is hard to understand just why such a seemingly harmless term can be so divisive, but sadly, the alum was offended enough by the school’s usage of the term to file.
“While I understand that Holy Cross is a vibrant campus full of people of diverse backgrounds,” said the plaintiff in an exclusive phone interview with The Spire, “the usage of the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’ is purely unacceptable.” We asked them why. “Because I think it is.” We asked them for a better reason, other than them not liking the phrase. “Because it’s unacceptable for the school to say ‘Happy Holidays’ when wishing their entire diverse student body a joyous holiday season.” We asked them why they thought so. They hung up the phone and blocked our number.
It is hard to imagine how such a simple phrase could elicit such an angry response from someone during what is supposed to be the happiest time of the entire year. What would they rather us say? Merry happy? We can only hope that the plaintiff finds some of that holiday magic in their hearts and drops the suit. After all, it is just a phrase, and it’s never that deep.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Featured image courtesy of iStock
Copy Edited by Sophia Olbrysh ’28
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