Religious Unity on Rutgers Campus is Lacking Amongst Students
My project is about showing support and unity for and of religions. I have talked to several people about their experiences and how I can best do this mural to represent their communities. Specifically my interview with Rabbi Esther Reed from Rutgers University Hillel has helped me finalize the idea of how the mural will be placed.
My mural will be placed in front of each religious organization, the image will be of a flower. This flower will have the center be the symbol for the religious group that uses this organization, while the petals will have the other religious symbols surrounding the center. This will show that other religions are there to support and uplift this organization.
Rabbi Reed mentioned how she would like for consciousness to be raised around the idea that there are diverse traditions at Rutgers. I also learned from Rabbi Reed that there is a lot of support for separate religious organizations on campus within the Chaplins but not within the student body. Outside of students the chaplains meet in an interfaith alliance once a month. There is also a multi-faith council for all recognized chaplains on campus. Chaplains have shown support to each other through publicity and communications. Some examples Rabbi Reed gave me were that over the last few weeks Father Scott from the Episcopal Church reached out to offer support in light of the FBI alert that Synagogues were under threat. Also, 10 years ago when the NYPD were discovered to be surveilling Muslim students, Rutgers Hillel wrote a letter with other University community clergies to state their grievances. Rabbi Reed also informed me that RUSA, Rutgers University Student Association, is trying to start a conversation around the creation of an interfaith or multi-faith student council. She also shared that the university is in the process of hiring a dean for religious and spiritual life.
I also spoke to students who go to Rutgers University. These students expressed a concern in the rise of discrimination of students practicing Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as Islamophobia and antisemitism. One Buddhist student expressed feeling discriminated against during COVID. A Hindi student also expressed that on campus they were mocked and harassed by their own peers at Rutgers University. Many times in these scenarios you do not see people standing up for others or supporting each other.
One student, Mandy, mentioned how in their freshman year of college they saw a hate group protesting in front of Brower Commons dining hall. She said they made it look like a protest about the war in Guatemala but that they were not talking about this. She says instead they were saying hateful things towards jewish people and talking about killing people in Israel. Also, a jewish student tried to go up to them to have a conversation and they refused to speak to him. Mandy also mentioned how in the Jewish community people were offended that the president went back on his apology offered to jewish people due to the egging at AEPI because it further solidified that there is not much support amongst students or administrators towards jewish students on campus.
This project will be successful in starting a conversation on campus about discrimination towards religious individuals at Rutgers University in order to union with religious individuals on campus as well as support. I hope this mural also helps religious people feel supported and safe on campus.
