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→Muslim Chaplain
During the 2010-2011 school year, the MSU rightly raised the issue that there was no Muslim chaplain for Muslim students on campus. A multitude of student groups wrote letters of support to the administration voicing their support for such a hiring. InterFaith was amongst that group. Their letter is shown below:
:: {{I}}In the recent weeks, we have become aware of a growing movement on campus to persuade the college to hire a Muslim Chaplin. Considering the experience that InterFaith [IF] has had involving interfaith activities, the group feels that it can speak strongly on the importance of having a chaplain available for all students who require one. One’s belief regarding spirituality (from polytheism to monotheism to atheism) goes beyond just highlighting a belief system; it often frames the cultural upbringing one has and, further, influences how one thinks.
:: Outside of our own group, the Chaplain’s office is constantly working towards greater understanding within faith and non-faith groups; however, this is not enough. While both IF and the Chaplain’s office allow for Muslim students to have a visible voice, this does not provide same aid that a Muslim chaplain would. For example, students should have the greatest access to religious knowledge and services possible, and a Muslim chaplain, not individual Muslim students, is the only one capable of providing this knowledge and services particular to the Islamic faith to the Williams community during all times of the school day.
:: But even further, InterFaith’s role as facilitators of dialogues between religious, spiritual, and non-religious students on campus has allowed us, as student leaders, to see the importance of the availability of spiritual leaders in our daily lives. For instance, in ''Theology on Tap'', chaplains representing various faith groups on campus invite students to ask them any questions they might have about their religions. Unfortunately, within this event, Muslims do not have a voice, or, if they are represented, they are represented by students. This highlights two critical problems we would like to bring to your attention. First, when IF hosts any faith-oriented discussion, we stress that participants should not feel like they are the voice for their religion. However, since there is no Muslim Chaplain on campus, Muslim students become quite literally, especially in the particular case of ''Theology on Tap'', the spokesperson. Moreover, and this leads to point number two, these students have not studied the religion, or its history in a manner one would expect a Muslim Chaplain to have done. Therefore, discussions regarding Islam are stifled, depriving Muslim and non-Muslim students from a potential growth opportunity and proper exposure to the Islamic faith. In our experiences, we have found that spiritual leaders like Reverend Rick Spalding, Cantor Bob Scherr, and Father Gary Caster provide a greater understanding of their faith not only to their own adherents, but to all members of the broader Williams community.
:: We often take the role of chaplains and religious leaders on campus for granted, but we feel they are an important source of strength and guidance within what are, for some students, the most basic principles of the formation of their selves. It is for all these reasons that we, as representatives of IF, petition for a Muslim chaplain.
