Valparaiso University Chooses to Replace Nickname Embraced by Hate Groups

Valparaiso University announced Tuesday that it has adopted the Beacons as its new team name, replacing the Crusaders, a term school officials dropped this year after saying it had been embraced by hate groups.

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School officials announced in February that they had retired the Crusaders name following input from students, faculty and alumni.

That decision came after a decades-long debate that has recently intensified because groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began using the words and symbols of the Crusades, which were a series of bloody religious wars starting in the 11th century between Christians and Muslims.

For years, Valpo’s sports mascot had been a helmeted figure in faux armor. But the school’s faculty and student senates each passed resolutions calling for a change, and the university’s alumni board of directors supported reassessing the team name’s appropriateness.

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