By: Jon Kohlscheen
As a part of an effort to renovate its brand, Valparaiso University has unveiled a new logo this fall that it says will “bring strength and clarity to its identity.” If Valparaiso University truly wanted to better represent its core values and character, it should reconsider changing its mascot.
The historical context of the Crusader is not something to be admired or emulated. Starting in 1095, the Crusades were a series of military campaigns by Western Christian Europe to take the Holy Land from the Muslims by force. Lasting for almost 200 years and killing hundreds of thousands, these holy wars displayed hatred and intolerance on a grand scale. Warriors were promised that their sins would be forgiven and they could enter heaven if they battled for the Church. Jews in towns along the way would often be rounded up and given the option of conversion or death. Substantial evidence exists indicating that brutality, rape, and cannibalism were not uncommon. This is not anything that we should want to associate ourselves with.
Defenders of the Crusader mascot contend that changing the mascot would upset tradition. But this is not the first time that Valparaiso University has needed to change its mascot. In 1931, VU selected the Uhlan, a German cavalry unit, as its first mascot. However, the university chose to change the mascot during World War II in order to disassociate themselves with the Nazi cause.
Others argue that the Crusader mascot is important to maintain and celebrate the university’s Christian heritage. But the Crusader does exactly the opposite. By highlighting one of the darkest hours in the Church’s history, the Crusader mascot emphasizes the wrongs committed by Christians instead of its long history of service to others, virtue, and love.
A mascot may seem trivial to some. Who really cares what cartoon we put on our t-shirts, right? But the mascot is part of the public face of the university. It is an icon that we choose to associate ourselves with because we believe that it has qualities that we admire. The Crusader mascot simply does not reflect the mission or vision of this university. Its vision of diversity, inclusion, faith and the formation of virtue is in no way reflected in an icon that draws its historical roots from intolerance, hatred, and violence.
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