College Ditches 'Crusaders' Mascot For Fear of Offending Muslims

After a month of indecision, the College of the Holy Cross has decided to cease using a Christian knight as its mascot despite a Board of Trustees decision to retain the “Crusader” moniker.

Students first voted to adopt the Crusader name in 1925, replacing two concurrently-used Native American symbols, and later changed the name of the student newspaper from The Tomahawk to The Crusader in 1955.

That same paper found itself in the crosshairs of renewed efforts to change the nickname during a student-led forum last March, but this time due to concerns that the “Crusader” name is offensive because the same title is also used by a newspaper published by the KKK.

The students, spurred to outrage by a letter-to-the-editor signed by 48 faculty members, also complained that the newspaper's name promoted “Islamophobia” and argued that the 2016 election necessitated a change in both the paper’s name and the college’s mascot—also the Crusader.