Feb 11, 2021 VALAPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — Valparaiso University announced Thursday that is dropping the team name Crusaders, the school mascot and all logos associated with the term that it says has been embraced by hate groups. The decision comes after a decades-long debate that had intensified recently because groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began using the symbols and words. The school’s faculty and student senates each passed resolutions calling for the change and the university’s alumni board of directors supported reassessing the appropriateness of the team name. The Crusades were a series of bloody religious wars starting in the 11th century between Christians and Muslims. For years, Valpo’s sports mascot has been a helmeted figure in faux armor.