News
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 • page 4
DIVERSITY
from I
“I was ultimately persuaded that the way
to move forward is to secure the middle,”
Fuller said. “That’s what we are doing with
the associate chaplain position.”
According to the 2013 university fact
hook, almost 35 percent of Elon students
identify as some denomination of Protes
tantism, 26 percent identify as Catholic, and
5.5 percent identify as Jewish.
In order to better reflect these demo
graphics, the position and the entire chap
laincy structure will undergo major changes
next year.
Starting next fall, there will be three as
sociate chaplains and one assistant chaplain.
Under Jan Fuller, there will be as associate
chaplain for Protestant life, an associate chap
lain for Jewish life and an associate chaplain
for Catholic life. The assistant chaplain posi
tion is open to a person of any religious af
filiation.
The search committee will interview can
didates for the associate chaplain for Protes
tant life and the assistant chaplain positions
this semester.
Father Gerry Waterman, the Catholic
Campus Minister, will become the associate
chaplain for Catholic life. The HiUel Center
is currently interviewing candidates for the
position of HiUel director. This new hire wiU
likely become the associate chaplain for Jew
ish life.
This arrangement foUows the staffing
structure laid out in the 2010 strategic plan.
It also foUows the model set by interfaith
initiatives at other schools, such as Brandeis
University, which has chaplains representing
Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
FuUer said this structure wiU make her job
easier, because it takes some of the adminis
trative and office work off her shoulders.
“I’m compeUed by this structure, and I see
how it is going to clarify the roles and make
the job doable,” she said.
Expanding minority resources
In the time since Jan Fuller took over as University Chaplain two years ago, she has pioneered severai university
CAROLINE OLNEYI Photo Editor
Many students come to Elon expecting to
engage with people of many different faiths,
but often this is not the case unless students
seek out these opportunities.
“I wanted to come here because the school
was trying to promote diversity — especiaUy
religious diversity,” said sophomore Shelby
Lewis. “I figured out within the first few
months of being here that they’re ready stiU
working on it.”
As co-president of the Interfaith Com
munity at Elon (ICE), a member of the Bet
ter Together multi-faith Living Learning
Community and a reUgious studies major,
Lewis has had plenty of opportunities to
engage with the university’s interfaith initia
tives.
Despite her involvement with campus re
ligious hfe, Lewis said she sees some prob
lems with the diversity initiatives.
“We are on the right track, but we need
to work on our implementation in order to
improve the authenticity of the message,” she
said.
FuUer said it is hard to know how to aUo-
cate resources when promoting diversity. On
the one hand, providing resources for a stu
dent population that represents a smaU frac
tion of the campus population may be seen as
a waste of resources, but on the other hand,
students from that reUgious faith wiU not be
attracted to Elon unless those resources are
avaUable.
“Do you wait until you have the critical
mass before you supply the resources? Our
perspective at Elon is that we err in the di
rection of having provided the resources first,
rather than waiting for the critical mass of
students,” FuUer said.
Elon’s Jewish population has doubled
since the establishment of the HUlel Center.
Iliana Brodsky, a freshman, said the re
sources for Jewish students were what ini-
tiaUy attracted her to Elon. After spending
a gap year in Israel, she reaUzed that a strong
Jewish community was essential to her col
lege experience.
“Both the HiUel House and Numen Lu
men PaviUon are brand new, quite functional
and beautiful. When I first got here, that
alone reaUy excited me,” Brodsky said. “I also
immediately got the feeling that the univer
sity was making serious efforts to expand re
Ugious and spiritual Ufe.”
Brodsky said the staff within HiUel and
the Truitt Center made her feel safe and wel
comed at Elon.
“I knew that Elon was a place that cared,
and a place that wanted me to be a part of the
budding process,” she said.
Similar resources wiU soon be in place for
students of underrepresented faiths.
Elon recently hired Eesaa Wood to serve
as the campus MusUm coordinator. He
worked on the Four Weddings and an Un
derstanding series, in which the Truitt Cen
ter staged marriage ceremonies from differ
ent reUgious traditions.
A large part of bringing in diversity is cre
ating a hospitable campus cUmate, and this
includes educating the campus about faiths
they may never have been exposed to.
In order to teach students about differ
ent traditions, reUgious studies lecturer L.
initiatives.
D. RusseU hosted a “WhirlAvind Tour” of
world religions, which focused not only on
understanding, but also experiencing differ
ent faiths.
FuUer said events Uke HoU and Diwali are
important because they show that exploring
other faiths can be fun and something the
campus can raUy around.
“Bringing in speakers and hosting events
is starting to plant a seed in peoples’ minds,
and hopefuUy people wiU go to the Truitt
Center and get engaged,” Lewis said.
Exploring the big questions
However, some students who do not have
a strong reUgious affUiation feel these activi
ties are not directed towards them.
Sydney Lawton, a fireshman, said she
would Uke to learn about other faiths, but is
sometimes hesitant to go to reUgious services
in Numen Lumen because she is not reU
gious.
“I just always assume they are for reUgious
people, and I feel Uke I’m intruding,” she said.
Almost 22 percent of students are Usted
as an “unknown” reUgion in the 2013 sur
vey. These students may come from mixed
reUgious traditions, they may be question
ing their reUgious affiUation or they may be
spiritual without a reUgious affiliation.
“Another way to read it is this develop
mental movement. Entering coUege often
coincides with psychological and spiritual