DU’s official diversity statement, posted on the Chancellor’s Web site at www.du.edu/chancellor/diversity-statement.html, reads, “The University of Denver community is strongly committed to the pursuit of excellence by including and integrating individuals who represent different groups as defined by… religion.”
DU has failed to live up to this commitment.
Currently, the university does not list the dates of religious holidays on its academic calendar, Web site, or in any of its literature, nor does it offer a meal plan option or release of contract for students looking to follow a specific diet based on religious preference or practice. While the university does encourage professors to allow students an excused absence on the date of a religious holiday that falls during the academic year, there is no documentation of the dates of these holidays available for review by the entire university community, including students, staff, administrators, and faculty.
Awareness of the dates of religious holidays, and a commitment to refraining from scheduling major university exams or events on these days, is imperative at a university that claims to “create a campus climate with an ethos of respect.” Likewise, at a school that requires freshman and sophomores to purchase a meal plan, allowances should be made for students who want to follow a specific dietdetermined by their religious preference.
Currently, Sodexho only allows students to apply for a release from their meal plan contract because of medical or financial reasons.
Granted, religious inclusiveness on campus has indeed grown by leaps and bounds, even in my short two years here. Not only has the university hired a chaplain for the first time in 40 years, but there is a relatively new group on campus, the Interfaith Alliance, dedicated solely to interfaith dialogue. Similarly, many of DU’s religious groups cosponsor events on and around campus, including everything from R&R night to guest speakers, and we have a thriving religious studies department.
However, all this considered, true religious inclusiveness on campus is still an elusive goal.
Some students have been alienated from campus events, including everything from Greek rush to Living and Learning Community retreats, because they have chosen to participate in the Jewish high holidays that fall during the academic year in September. Although allowances and apologies are often made, it does not make up for the fact that students feel isolated from the community because there is a lack of awareness on campus about the dates of these holidays.
When Ramadan falls during the academic year, Muslim students who are required to purchase a meal plan lose money because they fast during the day. After sundown, when these students break their fast, there is no on-campus dining option for them.
This year, some students were required to be back on campus by university-related organizations the last Sunday of spring break, which happened to be Easter. If DU is attempting to keep its students from observing and practicing their own religious tradition, then the university is succeeding.
Perhaps all DU needs to do is outline a specific mission statement for religious life on campus, delineating how DU will ensure that “no individual or group [is] marginalized or systematically excluded.”
Thankfully, DU has committed to holding a dialogue about these issues.
If you’re interested in being a part of this discussion, please attend or bring your personal stories to the Religious Inclusiveness Forum in Driscoll Gallery this Friday. The event will last from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and will be attended for at least a portion of the event by Chancellor Robert Coombe and Provost Gregg Kvistad.
