Furthering the Mascot Conversation at Capital University

Since the release of student/alumni and faculty/staff petitions to change the name of Capital University’s mascot, some questions arose in individual conversations that deserve more public attention. This post attemps to give attention to three general sets of questions.

1 - A few suggested that the words crusade and crusader came before the holy wars of Europeans seeking to retake portions of the Eastern Holy Roman Empire and the lands surrounding Jerusalem. Their point, it seemed, was that if the language wasn’t necessarily or primarily tied to the 11th-14th century Crusades, then we could reclaim it with some level of integrity.  Yet, as Merriam Webster and dictionary.com detail, the word crusade developed in specific reference to these aforementioned wars and warriors. Since its inception, the words have been intrinsically tied to the Christian European armies initially commissioned by Pope Urban in the 11th century. Deanna Proach’s further research reveals that the word is specifically tied to those that bore a cross and committed well documented acts of violence in the name of European Christendom. In short, there’s no sense of Crusade far separated from the acts of those medieval Christian warriors.

2 - Some have suggested that the original petition language was too strong, and specifically, that language of “horrendous” and “deplorable” in the faculty and staff petition was either too emotional or at least not helpful without further context. My original blog post, along with this further response, expand upon why the name is indeed horrendous, given our University’s Lutheran heritage and interreligious membership. Further, and significantly, such words capture the visceral reality that many experience when hearing the name Crusader as an mantle placed upon their shoulders. Indeed, as Georg Brun and Dominique Keunzle suggest in the linked article, as does feminist author Alison M. Jaggar decades earlier, emotions have epistemological resonance and consequence. In other words, it is wrong to pursue a dispassionate valuation of data when, in the lived experience of people, emotions themselves are data to consider. Our reality is that  feelings affect both the knowledge and the knower. All that is to say, horrendous and deplorable are strong words, but given the data and the experiences of people, appropriate words.

3 - A few people have mentioned to me that they (or others) believe that a move to change the mascot is simply a desire to be politically correct. This, I suppose, depends on your definition and perception of political correctness. According to Wikipedia, political correctness is the the intent to implement “language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.” Per Merriam Webster, it is “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.”

In any case, this is not about simply removing language or avoiding offense. Though, it should be said clearly, these are worthy goals to pursue. It should not be difficult to speak, act, or organize life in ways that don’t offend or disadvantage others. The desire to change the mascot is fundamentally a desire to match our mascot with our institutional character. It is an intent to achieve integrity, internally and externally. To claim the identity of a Crusader is not just to offend some people but, as detailed above in the question of the word’s origin, to celebrate the ways that Crusaders sought to harm, hurt, and kill Muslims, Jews, and to a lesser extent, Orthodox Christians. More than removing offense, we want a mascot that celebrates the character of the entire #CapFam.

Given these details, what we have yet to hear is how the name Crusader carries integrity, honor, and identity that fit the entire Capital University community. That, it seems to me, should be the burden of proof for the discussion. If a Crusader does not honor the integrity of those unlike it, then our future mascot should do just that: compete fiercely while it simultaneously honors the lives and identities of competitors.