Holy Cross Student Newspaper Changes Name Due To Concerns Over Racism

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.

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.

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.