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College Newspaper Changes Name Over Negative Connotations

WORCESTER (AP) — 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.

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(Image credit College of the Holy Cross/Facebook)

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.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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