While a proposal for a prayer room at Barnard sparked interest among religious groups when it was first proposed in 2008, there has been minimal movement toward developing one for the Diana Center.
But the prayer room initiative is resurfacing at a time when Columbia and Barnard are facing increasing demands for more campus space for practicing students. Still, students debate the extent to which a prayer room could meet the needs of a huge diversity of religious groups. Some wonder if it would instead increase tensions among religious factions on campus.
“Students in the Barnard community have expressed a desire to have a designated space welcoming to all religious, faith, and spiritual groups for prayer and meditation,” Barnard Director of Diversity Initiatives Pamela Phayme wrote in an email. “Their vision for this space is to create a harmonious environment that fosters inter-faith understanding and acceptance.”
Still, talks are now going into their third year, and logistical questions, as well as concerns about the viability of such a multi-denominational prayer space on campus, have meant that the initiative is still trying to gain significant traction.
NEW SPACE FOR MUSLIM STUDENTS
When Amreen Vora, BC ’09—then vice president of Barnard’s Student Government Association—settled in as a junior during the 2008-2009 academic year, she became acutely aware of the fact that there was no space on campus for students to engage in religious and spiritual practices.
“I realized that a lot of Muslims living in campus didn’t have a space to pray,” Vora said, though she added that, “For me, this is an initiative to introduce a space on campus in which anyone can reflect or pray. ... This wasn’t just meant as a room for Muslims to use.”
Vora approached Barnard administrators—particularly Dean and future Vice President of College Relations Dorothy Denburg and Vice President of Administration Lisa Gamsu—about the possibility of a space in the future Diana building that would be accessible to students for religious and spiritual purposes. Two years later, the proposal still has not come to fruition. According to Vora, the main obstacles have been the lack of one leading individual who would drive the initiative and a general space crunch on campus.
For Muslim students, a prayer room in the Diana would alleviate the challenges they face in finding places to pray multiple times daily. “Demographics-wise, having one [prayer space] in the Diana is important given that there are so many Muslims at Barnard,” Taimur Malik, CC ’11 and president of the Muslim Student Association, said.
In particular, it would be convenient for students who do not have time to return to their dorm rooms to complete their prayers.
“Muslim students that want to keep up with the five-times-a-day prayer ... they could do so on their own, but this would make it more convenient,” Safana Khan, CC ’14, said. “It creates a friendly atmosphere.”
According to Malik, when Vora and Sharmin Ahmed, BC ’10 and former SGA vice president of finance, got started on the initiative, it sparked a lot of excitement among the Muslim population. But, he said, “When the Diana finally got built, we were told there was no prayer room there.”
“They [Muslim students] were told that, yes, there is a possibility that we’ll have a prayer room,” Malik continued. “Eventually, we were told that was not going to happen.”
There is a prayer room on the first floor of Earl Hall that Muslim students can use, but Malik noted that the Muslim population on campus has swelled over the past few years. Undergraduate and graduate students have to share that room, he said. On top of that, Earl Hall is closed over the summer.
“The prayer room has become confined,” he said.
But Earl Hall administrators say this is not the case.
“Muslims pray five times throughout the day, and I think we are open for three or four prayers. … You may see four or five people come in and pray,” said Raquel Whittaker, assistant director of the Earl Hall Center. “We’ve had no conversations with any president of the MSA about overcrowding of that space.”
University Chaplain and Associate Provost Jewelnel Davis said that they were also sure to keep the room properly cared for and only accessible to Muslims. A two-foot bath for Muslim students to prepare for their prayer is locked and coded out of privacy concerns, and Earl Hall workers are required to wear shoe covers so they don’t “desecrate the carpet.” Earl Hall also provides a folding screen to separate men and women while they pray.
Though Lerner Hall initially appeared to be a viable alternative location for a prayer room, Malik said that, since so many student groups use Lerner already, it would be impossible to find space.
“I think, given the shortage of space for student activity on campus, it would be unlikely that the student body would want to see a prayer room in Lerner when there already is one in Earl Hall, even if it is small,” said Scott Wright, vice president of student auxiliary and business services.
Wright noted that the Diana may be the best place for a prayer room regardless.
“Student groups have huge, legitimate needs that can’t be fulfilled, including MSA, but they seem to have empty rooms there [in the Diana],” Wright said. “Plus, there are so many Muslim students at Barnard who study in Diana. … To go back to their room in Plimpton is difficult.”
OTHER GROUPS SEARCH FOR OWN SPACE
Other religious groups are also looking for better amenities at Columbia. Among these groups are campus Christian organizations, which currently occupy room 110 in Earl Hall—the same building that houses the Office of the University Chaplain, Community Impact, and the United Campus Ministries.
Columbia Catholic Ministry serves Catholic undergraduates, graduates, and faculty at the University, and is the official Columbia chapter of the Catholic Ministry. Columbia Catholic Undergraduates is a Student Governing Board-recognized club that reaches out exclusively to undergraduates, and is looking to gain more resources on campus.
“We have one kind of small office room in Earl in which we cannot hold events,” Michael Hannon, CC ’12 and co-president of Columbia Catholic Undergraduates, said. “That’s really used at this point for board meetings.”
Christian groups must resort to holding events in other locations, including the Church of Notre Dame and St. Paul’s Chapel.
“We rent space elsewhere. We book space elsewhere,” Hannon said. “We have space on campus, but what’s missing is a place that we can call our own.”
One group that isn’t lacking in space is Columbia/Barnard Hillel, which operates out of the now ten-year-old Kraft Center—previously a University-owned parking lot that is now a hub for Jewish life on campus. Before moving to the Kraft Center, Hillel was also based in Earl Hall, said Aviva Buechler, BC ’11 and president of Columbia/Barnard Hillel. But Simon Klarfeld, executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, has seen the importance in carving out a place on campus for religious groups to claim as their own space.
“Certainly, in the original design, prayer space was a serious consideration,” he said. “We needed to provide at least three different simultaneous prayer services, even back 15 years ago when they designed this place, because there were three different prayer communities, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform, all of whom pray on Friday nights.”
Since then, Hillel has been able to reach out to more Jewish students and expand both its programs and its outreach.
“Before the Kraft Center, not nearly as many groups and not nearly as many programs and events that happen today would happen without the Kraft Center,” Buechler said. “Since then, Hillel has been able to exponentially increase the active student involvement.
Catholic Undergraduate’s Hannon says that the Christian community at Columbia is just as large as the Jewish community, and that it is only fitting to build a center for Christian students similar to the Kraft Center. Still, he said, there are no efforts underway to create one.
“It’s certainly a hope that we have and is something we would like to actively pursue with the University’s help,” he said. “We understand that the administration to a large extent is doing what they can.”
INITIATIVE MEETS RESISTANCE AND SKEPTICISM
Many students, both at Barnard and Columbia, said a prayer room in the Diana could address some of the ongoing concerns of various religious and spiritual groups—a place at Barnard where students could pray when they do not have immediate access to their dorms.
But others have raised issue with the proposal, saying the fact that the prayer room will be available to all students—meaning students of all religions would be able to use it at any time of the day—could create tensions between groups.
“There’s so many different religions and so many aspects of religions,” Chantaell Barker, BC ’14, said. “Everybody has different needs. It would be hard to say, ‘Oh, this group has the room at this time,’ because of other groups’ needs.”
Wright agreed, saying that some groups have specific needs that a prayer room would not be able to address.
“During Yom Kippur, we can’t allow candle-burning because it violates the fire code,” he said. “I believe it’s Hindus who would burn incense—where would that happen, since places in New York are non-smoking?”
Others argued that there was no need for such a space at all. Tamar Glattstein, BC ’13, said there is already sufficient space on campus for religious purposes. Another student argued that it is not the administration’s place to make such a decision in the first place.
“Quite honestly, I don’t think it’s the role of the school to provide a space for every single denomination that could possibly come to Columbia,” Andrea Hazday, CC ’14, said. “I mean, we’re in New York City, and there are a lot of resources off-campus.”
The prayer room, Hazday said, will not generate as much excitement as proponents expect.
“For the majority of students, it wouldn’t really have an impact. ... It doesn’t bother me, but also, I probably wouldn’t utilize it,” she said.
Kelsey Brown, BC ’13, agreed, saying that establishing a prayer space could be interpreted as making assumptions about how students should practice their religion.
“By just creating one room for all religions, it might be viewed as them just blanketing all of these religious beliefs,” she said. “Some people that I know are very open to other religions, but I also do know people who would have a problem praying in the same room as someone of a different religion.”
Some Hindu students agreed, and said they would seek out other venues to fulfill their religious obligations.
“I’m a practicing Hindu, but I don’t think I’d be comfortable doing something religious in a social setting,” Anantha Hari, TC, said. “We [Hindus] probably go to a temple to pray” instead of a prayer room, she added.
Sweta Sanghavi, BC ’12—who serves on the events committee of Ahimsa, an organization that caters to Jain students—said her group is more cultural than religious, and so there is less demand among members for a section on campus for prayer.
“We don’t do anything strictly religious on campus—nothing prayer-oriented,” she said.
PRAYER SPACE WOULD BE WELCOMED AS GOOD FIRST STEP
Concerns about the viability of the prayer space have not changed supporters’ belief that it would alleviate, rather than exacerbate, the problems religious and spiritual groups on campus face. Many said concerns about tensions among groups had been exaggerated.
“I feel like there isn’t much of a clash between the different organizations,” Saloni Surana, BC ’12, said.
“It’s kind of divided,” Ilyas said, commenting on the important days of the week for various religions. “For Muslims, the most important day of the week is Friday; for Jews, it’s Saturday; and for Christians, it’s Sunday, so I don’t really see conflicts on a weekly basis.”
Other students acknowledged that some tensions would arise among groups, but said these could be resolved as long as everyone cooperated.
“Each religious group has a different way of practicing their religion,” TC student Megan Gill said. “As long as everyone is willing to work together to have an equal opportunity to use the space, I think it’s a phenomenal space.”
The success of a multi-denominational prayer room may also depend on its management, Hillel’s Buechler said.
“I think, overall, it would be amazing to see every student group have a space of their own, but if we’re looking to just create one space for now, it would be really important for the administration, the chaplaincy, and student groups involved to figure out what their needs are and how to meet them in terms of the space,” she said.
“Where do you draw the line with religion? Who’s allowed to be there and who’s not?” Hannah Carter, BC ’13, wondered.
But despite concerns about problems among different religious groups practicing in the same space, the prayer room could be a way to lessen the divisions among Columbia’s many schools.
“I like that the school is actually thinking of putting a place where students of different faiths can come together,” Gill said. “I think there’s definitely a divide between the schools themselves. ... I think it could serve as a way to bring students together.”
ISSUE REMAINS AT A STANDSTILL
Though the initiative has been in the works for two years and no timeline has been set, Jessica Nuñez, associate dean for student life at Barnard, said administrators are actively considering it.
“I can say that the requests are still on the table and are being taken very seriously by those who are determining how space will be distributed on campus,” Nuñez wrote in an email.
“When we first had discussions with administrators about what should be added to the Diana a couple of years ago, a prayer room was on the list,” SGA President Lara Avsar, BC ’11, wrote in an email. “Since then, SGA has always included the need for a prayer room in our discussions about the limited space that is available.”
Phayme said that conversations were still going about the best way to allot space at Barnard.
“There is an on-going discussion about the best way to allocate campus spaces that are now vacant,” Phayme wrote. “It’s my desire to keep the students’ push for specific, designated ‘safe’ spaces on campus a part of the conversation and allocation agenda.”
She added: “At the moment, there have been no conversations around potential restrictions (talking, singing) in the space. As the initiative moves forward and an exact location is determined, there can be a communal discussion and dialogue about its specific uses.”
Minori Takahashi, BC ’11 and SGA representative for diversity, took over the initiative after Vora graduated, and has had to fight to keep the issue going.
“My year is the third year that we’re in the conversation,” Takahashi said. “They said that it continued to come up in conversation, but … right now, it’s kind of like a side dish issue. I want to keep pushing for it and put it at the forefront of the administration’s mind.”
Takahashi said she hopes the prayer space will be created within the next year, but she is not certain that will happen.
“I think it can happen—I just think someone needs to put a lot of time and effort into it and really push the issue,” Vora said. “It’s on the back burner because no one’s pushing it forward.”
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