In modern name game, many skills required
In this age of manufactured outrage we have today a lesson in how to do battle over controversial nicknames — and how not to. Let’s just say that in these never-ending wars it’s better to be a crusader.
Confronted with protests from some faculty and students, the College of the Holy Cross had a decision to make about its “Crusader” nickname. And after a year of soul-searching, the Catholic college decided, to the relief of many alumni, that it would resist the pressure.
The decision to keep the Crusader nickname came with a caveat, though — the school would reconsider the “imagery” associated with the name. And last week it determined — to the surprise of few close watchers — that the Crusader mascot’s costume will be mothballed, and there will be no more knight-related imagery on school gear.
The contemporary definition of the term Crusader “suggests a noble effort to support a cause, to right a wrong or to make a difference,” the college president, Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, wrote in a message to alumni. The knight related imagery, however, “inevitably ties us directly to the reality of the religious wars and the violence of the Crusades,” Boroughs wrote. “This imagery stands in contrast to our stated values.”
In this case splitting the difference should satisfy the mob of the artificially aggrieved. So, go ’Saders.
Cut to the Massachusetts State House, where one state representative has rather embarrassed herself by calling for a change in the name of an entrance to the building, known informally for as long as anyone can remember as the “Hooker entrance.” That’s because a large statue of a Civil War general named Joseph Hooker, a son of Hadley, stands nearby.
Some years back a large sign was installed above the entry, labeled the “General Hooker Entrance.” That, says Rep. Michelle Dubois (D-Brockton), could be a source of pain and humiliation for those who pass through it.
“R U a ‘General Hooker’? Of course not! Yet the main entrance of the Mass State House says otherwise,” DuBois wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “#MeToo It’s not all about rape & harassment but also women’s dignity A ‘funny’ double entendres misrepresented as respect for a long dead general?”
Uh, General George Washington is “long-dead” too. If that’s the standard we’re going by, then someone should pull down his statue from the Public Garden.
And to equate a sign that might inspire sophomoric jokes with legitimate offenses against women’s dignity is just — well, frankly it’s moronic.
Holy Cross found a graceful way out of its dilemma. We’re not sure one exists for DuBois. PATRICK J. PURCELL, Publisher JOE SCIACCA, Editor In Chief RACHELLE COHEN,
Editorial Page Editor
JULIE MEHEGAN,
Deputy Editorial Page Editor