KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Evangel University in Springfield plans to retire its Crusader mascot immediately, the school announced Friday.
The university's board of trustees and interim president unanimously voted Thursday to drop the mascot, which has represented the private, Christian school since shortly after it opened in the 1950s.
“The world has changed significantly since the 1950s, when the Evangel community, intending to depict strength, honor, and commitment to the faith, first identified a Crusader as the school’s mascot,” Interim President Dr. George O. Wood said in a statement. “Today, we recognize that the Crusader often inhibits the ability of students and alumni to proudly represent the university in their areas of global work and ministry.”
The term crusaders, in recent years, has been linked to connotations of a bitter war between Christians and Muslims in Europe and the Middle East from the 11th to 13th centuries, she said.
She said university alumni who work and minister in the U.S. and globally cannot advocate or support the Crusader mascot, The Springfield News-Leader reported.
“I fully support the decision made by Evangel to retire the Crusader mascot and identify a new mascot that will serve the university well in the future,” Evangel Athletic Director Dennis McDonald said in a statement.
Faculty, staff, students and alumni have been involved in the review process, which began considering a change in 2007.
“The overwhelming recommendation of the groups was to retire the Crusader mascot,” Evangel said in a statement announcing the decision.
A mascot selection committee will begin working in April and will seek input from several groups. The plan is to have a replacement mascot selected by the start of the fall semester, Hedlund said.
Evangel is the flagship college for the Assemblies of God Christian church, which has its headquarters in Springfield.
41 Action News Digital Content Producer Tod Palmer contributed to this report.
