Multi-faith spaces in schools
- Dec 5, 2016
- 4 min read
It’s Wednesday night and about 40 students are gathered in the student centre. They’re having a social, so they'll interact with each other, make friends and build relationships. These students are members of the Embassy at Christian group at Humber College. Rachel Hammerton is the club president and feels that these meetings are important.
“The Embassy was created because our reverend saw a need in campus ministry...because of the shocking statistics for the high rate of people leaving their faith in postsecondary,” she says.
In most universities and colleges multi-faith spaces are available for students to practice their faith. The religious groups who share the space have to cooperate with each other in order to avoid conflict.
At the University of Toronto St George campus there was a conflict between groups over the multifaith centre. Some argued misuse and disrespect of the centre when others didn't remove their shoes and used the space for casual meetings. This might be an isolated issue as other groups in universities with multi-faith centres seem to get along with each other.
Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., is one school where religious groups work in tandem, according to Rev. Glenn Empey. Empey,63, director of spiritual affairs says that students find ways to share the space.
“Our multi-faith space is self-managing...the groups just cooperate with each other so that they don’t conflict with time,” he says.
Hammerton, 21, a psychology major at University of Guelph-Humber says they follow a booking system.
“We book out the student centre, so it’s not like we have a space that’s typically our own,” Hammerton says. “As long as we book the space, then we can use it on the days that we want to.”
Empey plays a major role in connecting the groups,by informing them when the space will be occupied in order to maintain compliance and keep out bureaucracy.The Muslim Student Association (MSA) holds its Friday prayer session in the space while the Christian groups use it weekly.
Hammerton says the Embassy uses the multi-faith centre twice a week and because of the mutual respect shared among groups, conflicts never develop.
“As far as space is concerned, we’ve never had any conflict as long as we return everything to the way that it was when we arrive,”she says. “If we wanted to book the space on special religious date for another group we’d respect that and give them the space.”
At Trent University, the multi-faith space is open daily so individual religious students can use the space for prayer or meditation. Because of this open-door policy and promotion of the spaces, other students or groups can use the space for prayer and meditation without the reverend knowing.
“I have a Facebook page...that has information on it about the multi-faith space, the university website has the location and times of availability, and I spread the word around through the groups,” he says.
Hammerton says because the Embassy is committed on creating that feeling of a church on campus, they attend every club fair, hang posters around campus and use social media.
Empey serves as a resource for the students and groups that use the multi-faith space. He says students generally manage their time wisely and create a schedule around their prayer or meditation time. In order to ensure that conflict doesn’t develop over respect of the space some rules were implemented.
“It’s not a place to hang out or use as a lunchroom. We ask that there is no food or drink in there and there is a possibility for taking off your shoes for some faiths,” Empey says. “We expect people to treat it with a sense of respect and we’ve had no problems so people get that and it’s meant to be a quiet place.”
Some religious groups on school campuses opt out of sharing a space and get their own. At the University of British Columbia(UBC) in Vancouver, the Jewish group has its own centre. The Chabad-Jewish Chaplain, Rabbi Chalom Loeub, 32, says that prior to its development Jewish students would meet at the Hillel house at UBC.
“Since the centre opened in 2013, we have students from UBC, Simon Fraser University and other local community colleges in Vancouver using the centre. It feels like a home for all Jews while they are still in university,” he says.
Loeub, 32, starting serving as the rabbi at UBC in 2012. The Chabad Jewish Student Centre is a space for Jews to use without scheduling a specific time and this allows for a greater sense of family among the students. It was provided by the Jewish community so the Jewish students will feel more at home and to create a greater sense of community. The group meets for weekly Shabbat dinners, educational programs or social events where 20-50 students interact with each other. Even though they don’t share the space there are regulations.
“There are rules to follow and a mode of conduct is expected,” Loeub says. “It is understood that students act with respect and decency.”
Jewish students usually find out about the Chabad Jewish Student Centre through the school’s website and Facebook.
With more millennials leaving religion, the pressure is on for religious groups in schools to attract more students and keep the ones they have. Multi-faith spaces allow all groups and individuals to practice what they believe in while on campus.
Comments