Photo by: Laura Hathaway
Last Friday students, faculty, community leaders and religious professionals attended a Religion on the Secular University Campus symposium which took place in Driscoll from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It was sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at DU.
The convention covered topics ranging from how to teach about religion and how religion should be practiced on a secular university campus to the role of faculty in addressing spiritual concerns voiced by students.
Other questions that were addressed were if colleges and universities are meeting their students’ needs in terms of religion and if faculty should express personal religious positions in the classroom.
Provost Gregg Kvistad along with others, such as student Joel Portman, gave the welcoming remarks.
Attendees broke out into discussion groups, each including guest speakers such as professors and students. There were four morning one-hour sessions.
One, titled, “Religion and Secularity,” addressed whether the constitutional issues separation of church and state implies the separation of church and academia and the differences in teaching in a secular school versus a religiously affiliated school.
Another breakout group focused on teaching Latino studies and religion.
The third group discussed religion and globalization. The final group focused on how doctoral students consider religion.
After lunch, breakout sessions began again. The afternoon focused on topics such as the role of faculty in students’ lives, religious diversity on campus and different views undergraduate and graduate students have about religion.
Graduate student Diana Carvalho, sophomore Philosophy and Religious Studies major Tucker Plumlee and sophomore Religious Studies and Molecular Biology major Rabah Kamal spoke about religion as perceived by students.
Carvalho touched on whether or not graduating from college weakens or strengthens students’ faith and how she sees students focusing on religion on campus.
“I have seen more and more business and international studies majors that are beginning to take religion more seriously,” said Carvalho of students who have begun to take into account religion in their studies.
“There are questions that are pressing in today’s society, especially with the Israeli and Palestinian conflict going on.”
Plumlee spoke about the expression of religious identity, more specifically the distinction between the private religious life of students and the public religious life of students.
“Where I see tension occurring is that there are students who identify themselves as religious or spiritual, but there is a relatively low involvement in religious organizations,” said Plumlee. “But there is a healthy involvement at DU when compared to other organizations.”
Kamal discussed how she thinks of religion personally as an undergraduate on-campus. She talked about developing her own personal identity while pursuing her studies at the same time.
“On a secular campus the priority needs to be overcoming your self-identity before political correctness, such as what we can and cannot talk about,” said Kamal.
“Not knowing what is going on personally and then coming to a secular campus and feeling the need to be politically correct doesn’t provide enough space for self-development.”
The session ended with questions from those present. Gary Brower, recently appointed as DU’s university Chaplin, addressed the issue of student involvement and provided examples of why it is so hard to get student religious organizations started on campus, especially for less marginalized religious groups.
