In most faiths, prayer is meant to be a calm and serene practice, an opportunity for religious individuals to relax, reflect, and talk to their respective higher power. For an ideal prayer session, surroundings are key, and spaces that are overly noisy or public are poorly suited for regular prayer. The Islamic tenant of Salah (also spelled Salaah or Salat) requires that the devout pray five times a day at prescribed times while facing towards Mecca (roughly southwest of Hoboken). For these reasons and more, student leaders on campus have been working towards establishing a communal prayer space on campus for months, but so far their efforts have not been successful.
To gauge why student leaders felt the need for a prayer space, The Stute reached out to the current president of Hillel, Jason Buckman, and the current and former presidents of the Muslim Educational & Cultural Association (MECA), Nazrin Akther and Iman Alshafie, respectively. Buckman said, “As the President of a religious org, Hillel, I feel like there needs to be a designated prayer space at Stevens. While Hillel aligns more with cultural aspects of Judaism, there needs to be a space where students of all religions and denominations can go to pray.” Alshafie elaborated on why a space is so important for the daily prayers of Islam, saying, “Absolutely, there is a definite need. It’s about providing the resources needed to make students of all faiths and backgrounds feel welcome and included on campus. In the specific case of Muslim students on campus, Muslims pray 5 times a day, and a good majority of the Muslim students on campus are commuter students. That means that more often than not, 3 of the daily prayers are during school hours.”
In the past, students would pray in Jacobus, the former student center, as Akther explained: “Previously, the Newman/MECA storage room in Jacobus was used as the prayer space. It wasn’t ideal (a little tight), but it was a great place because it was disconnected from the noise in Jacobus, but it was a convenient place. People were able to pray whenever they needed to and to come and go as they pleased. Typically the daily prayers would not be done in congregation on campus because of everyone’s different schedules.”
The Intercultural Space, which recently opened in the new Student Center, was originally intended to include the prayer space, as was described in the SGA Proclamation which called for the Intercultural Space (then called the Intercultural Center). Whether it was in the Intercultural Space or not, many students were hoping the new Student Center would bring a prayer space with it. However, the prayer space was removed when the plan for the Intercultural Space was somewhat scaled down, and since that change, no new plans have been made to establish a prayer space. When asked about what has prevented the space from being established, Vice President of Student Affairs Sara Klein said, “While the administration recognizes that some students may want to pray or meditate while on campus, there are many competing needs for space, and at this time an appropriate space has not been found. We may revisit this issue in the future as new space comes on line.”
Booking rooms for prayer on a case by case basis has served as a temporary solution. Akther explained, “This semester, Dean Nilsen has helped book Bissinger for Friday Prayers. However, many times we were moved to Fielding and sometimes without notice. Liliana [Delman] has helped us reserve the training room in the Wellness Center from 1-2pm and 4-5pm on weekdays.” Buckman expressed that booking rooms wasn’t a complete solution, however, saying, “I think the attitude of ‘just book a room when you need to pray’ is wrong, considering the consistent push for a prayer room. There are a lot of supplies needed for praying for each org, like siddurs and kippahs for Hillel and prayer rugs for MECA.” Student leaders were also told by an anonymous administrator that, due to the lack of space on campus, it would be more feasible to promote a campus culture which destigmatizes praying in the corners of classrooms, as was shared during a recent SGA Senate discussion on this topic. Alshafie responded to this statement without even being asked about it: “That made me incredibly sad, because as much as I would love for the majority of students to find it completely normal for Muslim students to be praying around campus, society isn’t there yet. To have students deal with the worry of thinking “is this the time that someone will stop me and insult me” is unfair. Instead, Stevens should be taking greater steps to establish a place where students can go to express their faiths, while simultaneously educating the general student body about inclusivity and people of different faiths, just like they would educate others about people of different cultures.”
Concerns were raised that the space would become overcrowded, or if students of different faiths would be able to effectively share the space, but the student leaders involved were confident that these issues could be overcome. Buckman said, “I don’t think there will be a problem with overcrowding sharing the space with other religious orgs, I think it’ll bring us closer together. It will allow us to share our traditions and customs and prayers with others, and form a more inclusive and welcoming community with all of our students.” All of the other student leaders expressed similar doubt that there would be any conflict, assuming that it is made clear that the space is open to all people and faiths.
The student leaders were asked if they thought the school had handled the many calls for the space well. Buckman said, “I think that it is due time the school has heard our need for a shared prayer space, and I’d like to see it happen.” Alshafie said, “At first, I thought so. In the early stages I felt like myself and my community on campus were being heard, and that the school was working to become a more inclusive environment. But as each month went on, it felt like less and less of a priority. The sad thing is, the Muslim community is used to it. We are used to being put on the back burner because there are issues that involve more students on campus than our minority that needs to be resolved. Issues that are absolutely important, but it pushes students that have religion as a core to their identity aside. I understand there is limited space on campus, and there are limited funds to direct for this type of work since the administration has told us that Stevens is secular and does not associate with any one religion. But just because the university as a whole doesn’t associate with a particular religion, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t take the steps to make sure that their students who do associate with different religions are supported. For example, I may not be Catholic, but I was shocked when certain members of the administration asked Newman Catholic why they need more resources when there are many churches within walking distance of Stevens that students can turn to. Having these types of resources on campus allows students to create a community at Stevens that connects them beyond just classes, and gives students the opportunity to learn about each other’s faiths and backgrounds while breaking down negative stereotypes.”
“We are simply asking for a space that is dedicated to prayer, quiet, and open to everyone. It does not require much else,” Akther concluded.
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