Holy Cross changes 'Crusader' newspaper name

WORCESTER, Mass. - The student newspaper at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts that shared its name with a Ku Klux Klan publication is changing its name.

The staff at The Crusader announced Friday the paper will now be known as The Spire.

“We felt that this is the right decision and we needed to make it now,” James Gallagher, one of the editors-in-chief, said.

The new name pays homage to the distinctive twin spires of Fenwick Hall, Holy Cross' main building and the oldest structure on the Jesuit school's Worcester campus.

An editorial Friday said the change had nothing to do with "the nominal association with a poorly-circulated KKK newspaper," but because of the violence and massacres associated with the medieval Crusades.

“We felt that we couldn’t separate the religious violence and that sort of imagery connected with the crusader name with our newspaper,” Gallagher said.

The name change was made without input from the college's administration or trustees, who are meeting this weekend to weigh whether to keep the Crusader as the school's sports mascot.

“We've had this decision for while this is our decision and were going to stick with it no matter what the college decides,” Gallagher said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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