Archive for the 'Religion' Category

Creating an Inclusive Campus Community: Lessons from William & Mary

Published by Glyn Hughes on February 15, 2008 in Religion. 3 Comments

In his recent resignation letter, President Gene Nichol from the College of William and Mary highlighted the complex challenges of creating diverse and inclusive communities on college campuses. The issues Nichol described as contentious during his presidency at W&M — religious tolerance, free speech, access to education, and the importance of diversifying the faculty, staff, and student populations — are all themes with which UR has wrestled as well. (See the bottom of this post for details of a Town Hall meeting related to religious tolerance at UR.)

Of course, Nichol’s perspective is one among many. We’ve chosen to draw your attention to his letter here in order to

· refocus our own attention on the challenges we face at UR, and

· consider the lessons we might learn from other institutions facing similar challenges

What, we ask, are the implications for each one of us as members of a community that is proudly taking up the challenge to become more diverse and inclusive? Please share your thoughts.

In light of recent discussions on our campus, the following passage from Nichol’s letter seemed especially worthy of our reflection:

“As is widely known, I altered the way a Christian cross was displayed in a public facility, on a public university campus, in a chapel used regularly for secular College events — both voluntary and mandatory — in order to help Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other religious minorities feel more meaningfully included as members of our broad community. The decision was likely required by any effective notion of separation of church and state. And it was certainly motivated by the desire to extend the College’s welcome more generously to all. We are charged, as state actors, to respect and accommodate all religions, and to endorse none. The decision did no more…

Continue the discussion about Religious Diversity…

Town Hall Meeting, Feb. 19 at 7 pm in the Alice Haynes Room of the Commons.

This town hall meeting will provide an opportunity for open discussion of the state of respect for religious diversity at UR, and ways that we can work together to further build and develop a community of respect on campus. All members of the UR community are welcome and encouraged to attend. Free pizza and entertainment following the discussion. Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplaincy and made possible by a grant from Common Ground.

Lisa Miles and Glyn Hughes

Office of Common Ground

Religion, Free Speech, and Tolerance: What’s your response?

Published by Glyn Hughes on December 11, 2007 in The Collegian, Bias Incidents and Religion. 12 Comments

Last Thursday’s Collegian included a comment in the “Rants and Raves” section that
first referenced the University’s offering of kosher meals for Passover, asserted
the tardiness of the University in displaying its Christmas decorations, and
concluded with this thought: “It was starting to look like the Jews were taking
over.”

Now, we realize that the whole point of the “Rants and Raves” section–mimicking radio shock jocks–is to provoke readers by flirting with taboo subjects. (In the same piece, women are dogs and gargoyles, blacks are “gangsta,” and international students are ignorant and annoying.)

And we also understand that newspapers ought to be free to publish unpopular ideas, even if they are racist, sexist, or anti-Semitic.

The bigger test, though, is how we respond to those ideas as members of the UR
community. So here is our discussion question for you: In light of the holiday season and this example of anti-Semitism in particular, what do we need to say to one another to ensure that we progress toward real inclusion here at UR?

As always, we invite your comments.

If you would like to read about one Montana town’s response when the homes of Jews were vandalized during Hanukkah in 1993, click here.

Glyn Hughes and Lisa Miles, Office of Common Ground