University dumps its mascot because it’s “associated with violence and destruction”
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via Northwest Nazarene University Facebook
A private Christian liberal arts university in Idaho has announced that it will change its mascot after critics argued that – like most school mascots – it was once “associated with violence and destruction.”
After much discussion, Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) dropped its original mascot, the Crusaders, in favor of a more politically correct one: the Nighthawks. Students, alumni, and others felt that the image of knights fighting holy wars conflicted with the school’s mission and values.
“We’re a global university and we have missionaries all over the world, and in some countries, that’s not a great image,” said NNU media relations specialist Rob O’Donahue.
University spokesman Mark Cork noted that the debate over the mascot name started in the late 1990s to early 2000s. In 2006, the university stripped all imagery of the Crusader mascot, and in 2016, its Board of Trustees decided to appoint a task force comprised of people from different departments and alumni. After several meetings, the task force decided on the new mascot last Spring, which the Board approved at its meeting this Fall.
While social justice warriors applauded the change, many alumni are not thrilled about it.
Scott Asbjornsen, who attended NNU from 1979 to 1980 and then 1982 to 1983, believes the change is representative of how the university has begun conforming to the culture over the last 20 years. He feels that NNU has been drifting from its principles to “keep everyone happy” and is “turning around trying to be all things for all people.”
Larry Robb, a 1985 alumnus, is also worried that the school is conforming to the culture and is losing one of the last things that separates the school from any other university.
NNU isn’t the first Christian college to drop their “Crusaders” mascot. Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, University of the Incarnate Word in Texas, and Maranatha Baptist University in Wisconsin have all changed their mascots in favor of politically correct alternatives.
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Source: Red Alert Politics
