Time for a Change
Dr. Corlis McGee, President of ENC
Three years ago as the new President at ENC, I eagerly awaited the beginning of the fall semester, the onslaught of the new students and the return to campus of the upperclassmen. It was an exciting weekend meeting students and parents. In the week or so that followed I received a polite, yet concerned email from the father of one of our new students trying to understand why a Christian college would display a Crusader mascot in the 21st century when the symbol itself had come to have such different and negative meanings than when it had been adopted by ENC and many other colleges. My plate was full and I tucked his thoughts and the gentle nudging of one or two faculty members away to be dealt with at a future date. I had lived in the center of Western Europe during Sept. 11 and the years that followed and I had personally witnessed the negative impact the term now carries in our global society.
In January 2008 one of our senior students, Jesse Mix, wrote an excellent essay addressing the need for a change. The fact that Jesse was a member of the men’s Crusader Soccer Team for four years and felt a deep need for change, was just one more indicator that the time had come. Jesse’s essay created a lively debate among students, faculty, and even dialogue with the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, the Alumni Council, the Student Affairs Committee of the Board, the President’s Cabinet, and many other college constituents. As I’ve researched the Crusader more thoroughly, it seems that since its adoption questions about it have constantly been posed.
At the time we became Crusaders, in the 1950s, the term here in America carried with it the very essence of the ENC mission. President Edward Mann intended us to be seen as Crusaders for Christ, in the best sense of the word, both on and off the court and field. In today’s 21st century, we must ensure that ENC’s mission and image are clear and consistent in a world with virtually no borders, where information and images are transferred via the internet literally around the world in seconds and where ENC’s webpage can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
In fact, our vision statement emphasizes this global focus of ENC:
"Embracing its multicultural and urban environment, ENC prepares students to lead and serve in a diverse world by integrating ‘the best in education and the best in Christian faith’."
According to Dr. Duane Litfin, President of Wheaton College – where they also switched from the Crusader mascot – as our world has changed, so have we. "In our globalized environment others are constantly exposed to us, and we to them," he wrote in an open letter to alumni. "We discover a steady flow of viewpoints other than our own, viewpoints we might otherwise never have glimpsed. These perspectives are sometimes pressed upon us, whether we want them or not. Where before we were oblivious to our differences, we can be oblivious no more. Our new environment forces us into a consciousness of how other people think, including how they think about us. Often this is delightful, sometimes it is painful, but always it is educational. When we see through other eyes we often wind up seeing differently."
Changing the Crusader mascot at Eastern Nazarene College is not in anyway a condemnation or rejection of our history or of the long line of Crusader athletes who have represented ENC over these years. On the contrary, changing the mascot is actually the fulfillment of ENC’s history and mission. It emblemizes our movement into the new millennium as a college in keeping with our rich history and tradition that "seeks to create and maintain an environment which awakens and fosters truth, righteousness, justice and holiness as made possible by God’s transforming grace through Jesus Christ." (ENC Mission Statement)
Rev. Mark H. Mann, Ph.D. (82), Director for the Wesleyan Center for 21st Century Studies at Point Loma Nazarene University, President Edward Mann’s grandson, and former ENC athlete, states it well:
"The central question that we have to ask is: what do we want to communicate to others about what it means for ENC to be a Christian institution? Born out of and fostered by the Wesleyan-holiness movement, our central mission is to love God with all that we are and to share God’s love with others—especially those who have yet to come to a saving knowledge of God’s love.
While the Crusader communicated this ideal back when my grandfather was ENC president, it no longer does. In fact, it has come to communicate exactly the opposite ideal.
Over the past couple of decades, we have learned a great deal about the medieval Crusaders after whom we were named. To put it bluntly, they were a lecherous lot. They raped, pillaged, murdered, terrorized, and committed acts of such atrocity that they bear a frightening resemblance to the Serb leaders recently on trial before the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. That such acts were committed by Christians in the name of Jesus—who taught that we should love our enemies and modeled such love by laying down his life even for those responsible for his death—makes those actions all the more reprehensible.
… it fills me with great pride to know that, in making this change, we truly are fulfilling our Christian mission and the vision of those who have sought to build a college that glorifies Christ."
In the long tradition of ENC, we will not go quietly into the night when there is a world that desperately needs to see the light and love of Christ in and through our lives. This is our mission and heritage. The willingness to explore, research, dialogue, and make the change is an example of Christian liberal arts education lived out.
