I was ecstatic when I saw the op-ed by Pauli Voelkel ’27 titled “The College needs a humanist chaplain.” A conversation about non-traditional spiritual and religious communities was precisely what the Chaplains’ Office intended in inviting Tufts University’s Hindu chaplain, Dr. Preeta Bannerjee, and humanist chaplain, Anthony Cruz Pantojas, to Claiming Williams Day. I agree with Voelkel that our office needs to expand for a more accurate representation of the student body, but I want to use this essay to share the ways the chaplains engage with students in our capacity as spiritual care providers, irrespective of religious identity, especially for those who identify as humanists, atheists, and agnostics.
A chaplain is a religious or spiritual leader who provides spiritual care to all those whom they serve within their organization. Rick Spalding, the previous chaplain to the College, explained a college chaplain’s work in three parts: pastoral care, sectarian work (for their assigned communities), and general service to the College. Right now, there is a wave of non-religious chaplains like Pantojas entering chaplaincy to provide spiritual care to not only the “nones,” but also to those who are religious.
Before accepting the role of Muslim chaplain at the College, I went through extensive soul-searching because I understood that the title excludes many both within and outside of my community. The word “chaplain” is not relatable to many Muslim students due to its Christian origin, and it is a foreign word to many international students. At the same time, the title “Muslim chaplain” excludes non-Muslims by making it sound as if I only provide spiritual care to those who identify as Muslim.
Clearly, terminology matters. Hence, our titles exclude people like Voelkel and the student who sat in my office last week to discuss their religious housing accommodation, who told me that they had never been to the chaplains’ office because their religious tradition was not represented. I asked the student if there should be more accessible terminology that would allow for our roles to be understood immediately by the listener, and they said, “perhaps.” Two weeks ago, Rev. Valerie Bailey Fischer and I attended the annual Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education (ACSLHE) Conference at the University of Southern California, where I spent considerable time with Muslim chaplains across higher education. My good friend, Amina Darwish, holds the title “Associate Dean for Religious & Spiritual Life and Advisor for Muslim Life” at Stanford and Yale’s chaplain, Omer Bajwa, has the title “Director of Muslim Life.”
It goes without saying that representation matters. The majority of the non-Protestant and non-Jewish communities still worship in the basement of Thompson Memorial Chapel. Only recently did the Faculty House start serving halal entrées for Muslim faculty and staff. It took 11 years for the Muslim chaplain position to become full-time since Bilal Ansari was hired as a part-time Muslim chaplain in 2011. Change at the College is slow, as I have been told and I continue to hear and see. However, despite the lack of nominal representation of all spiritual and religious communities, our office is trained to engage with students from different backgrounds. Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Seth Wax and Catholic Chaplain Bridget Power lead spiritual direction for students who are discerning their spiritual path and wondering about life’s big questions. We each meet students one-on-one, hold various programs and interfaith dialogues with students partnering with the Interfaith Council, and collaborate with various campus partners such as Integrative Wellbeing Services.
As a Muslim woman who holds a minoritized identity within chaplaincy, I have found examples in the previous generation of college chaplains like Howard Thurman at Boston University, William Sloane Coffin Jr. at both Yale and right here at the College, who “exhorted, comforted, and fiercely interrogated their communities” by “decry[ing] … discrimination, racism, imperialism, privilege, and exclusivity that was found within the academy and the nation,” as Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson of Brown University describes in her foreword to the book, College and University Chaplaincy in the 21st Century: A Multifaith Look at the Practice of Ministry on Campuses across America.
Thus, I use this opportunity to ask you: What ways can we serve you and your specific needs while we wait for more equitable representation of non-traditional spiritual communities at the College? Will you allow me and my colleagues to peek into the window of your soul to be part of your social and spiritual support system? Will you help us advocate for change so it does not take 10 to 15 years to be implemented? I invite you to reach out to one or all of us at the Chaplains’ Office to begin that conversation.
Sidra Mahmood is the College’s Muslim chaplain.
