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The College of the Holy Cross
HolyCrossSealColor.png
Latin: Collegium Sanctae Crucis
Motto In Hoc Signo Vinces (Latin)
Motto in English
In this sign you shall conquer
Type Private Nonprofit
Coeducational
Liberal arts college
Established 1843
Affiliation Roman Catholic (Jesuit)
Endowment US $726,053,000
President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.
Academic staff
Total: 325
(258 full-time / 67 part-time)
Students 2,872
Location , ,
Campus Suburban - Total: 174 acres (70.4 ha)
Fighting Song "Chu! Chu! Rah! Rah!"
Colors Purple      and      White
Athletics NCAA Division I - Patriot League AHA, ECAC, BSC
Nickname Crusaders
Affiliations AAC&U, NAICU, ACCU, AJCU, AICUM, WRC, COWC, 568 Group
Sports 27 varsity teams
(13 men's and 14 women's)
Mascot Iggy the Crusader
Website www.holycross.edu
College of the Holy Cross
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Location Fenwick and O'Kane Halls, surrounding landscaping
Area 2.6 acres (1.1 ha)
Built 1843
Architect Lamb,Capt. Edward, et al
Architectural style Classical Revival, Gothic, Second Empire
MPS Worcester MRA
NRHP reference No. 80000491
Added to NRHP March 5, 1980

The College of the Holy Cross or Holy Cross is a private, undergraduate Roman Catholic, Jesuit liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. U.S. News & World Report ranked Holy Cross 25th in the U.S. among liberal arts colleges in 2014. Holy Cross is the only Catholic college among the top 50 liberal arts schools on the U.S. News list.

Opened as a school for boys under the auspices of the Society of Jesus, it was the first Jesuit college in New England. Today, Holy Cross is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) and is part of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium (COWC). Holy Cross sports teams are called the Crusaders, and their sole color is purple; they compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Patriot League.

Academics

Holy Cross has 240 faculty members who teach 2,817 undergraduate students. It offers 28 majors mainly focused on a liberal arts curriculum, each of which leads to the completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree. All B.A. candidates must successfully complete 32 semester courses in eight semesters of full-time study to graduate. Common requirements include one course each in arts, literature, religion, philosophy, history, and cross-cultural studies; and two courses each in language studies, social science, and natural and mathematical sciences. As of 2010, Holy Cross is in the top 3% of four-year colleges in the number of students going on to earn doctorates in their fields.

Of particular interest is the Classics department at Holy Cross, which has ten faculty members, making it the second largest Classics program at any American liberal arts college (after St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), where Ancient Greek is a required subject). D. Neel Smith, one of the department professors, is a primary collaborator on the Perseus Project, the multimedia database of Greek antiquity created by several college and universities.

Campus

Fenwicklawn
Fenwick Lawn, an iconic view of the College with Commencement Porch of Fenwick Hall in the foreground and the Chapel beyond

Holy Cross' campus, a registered arboretum, has won national awards for its landscaping. In 1977, Holy Cross was cited by the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) for having the best-maintained school or university grounds in the United States Holy Cross is marked by an irregular layout as its 175-acre (0.71 km2) campus is situated on the northern slope of a very steep hill named Mount Saint James which offers it a panoramic view of the city of Worcester. The Princeton Review ranked the campus as #5 most beautiful campus in the nation in 2010 and consistently ranks the campus in the top 15. The design and landscape is ingrained into many themes and nicknames for the school which is commonly known as The Hill.

Today, some 37 college buildings are divided primarily with residential housing and academic buildings located in the middle sections of the campus, with athletic and practice facilities on the outskirts of the campus on its northern and southern ends. Holy Cross also owns 6 non-campus properties.

Mascot

Holy Cross's athletic teams for both men and women are known as the Crusaders. It is reported that the name "Crusader" was first associated with Holy Cross in 1884 at an alumni banquet in Boston, where an engraved Crusader mounted on an armored horse appeared at the head of the menu.

Motto

The Latin motto In Hoc Signo Vinces, "In This Sign You Shall Conquer", has been attributed to Emperor Constantine the Great, a Roman emperor noted for his tolerance of Christians. According to some historians, Constantine had a dream or vision of a flaming cross in the sky with this inscription on the day preceding his decisive victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge (October 28, 312). This victory led to his capturing Rome and convinced him of the importance of Christianity.

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See also

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