Interfaith Interaction (or Lack Thereof)

January 26, 2015
By Jake New

WASHINGTON – The majority of college students say their campuses feel inclusive of many different faiths, according to research presented here Friday, but only 3 percent of students say they actually participate frequently in interfaith programming on campus.

The Campus Religious and Spiritual Climate Survey, discussed during a presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, examined how academic, social, and functional features of a college influence the way students interact with each other across religions. The survey collected responses from more than 8,000 students from 38 public and private colleges and universities (the latter included Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical institutions) between 2011 and 2014. According to the survey's findings, feelings of acceptance vary widely between religions, types of institutions, and even years of college.

“It’s pretty difficult to not interact with someone of a different worldview on campus,” Alyssa Bryant Rockenbach, associate professor of higher education at North Carolina State University and one of the researchers behind the survey, said. “But there are missteps and there is tension, and very few students are highly engaged.”

While colleges have never been more diverse, religiously or otherwise, attempts to build religious pluralism on campus aren't always met with enthusiasm. Earlier this month, Duke University reversed a policy announced just two days earlier that would have allowed Muslim students to offer a call to prayer on Friday afternoons from the campus chapel's bell tower. The weekly prayer service had already been held in the chapel's basement for years, but the inclusion of a call to prayer announcement drew intense criticism from some evangelical leaders. A university spokesman said "credible" security threats influenced Duke's decision to abandon the new policy.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/26/few-students-engage-regularly-campus-programming-promotes-religious-diversity