Spirituality in Higher Education: The Role of Student Affairs Professionals?

            It is common knowledge that students tend to become less religious during their collegiate careers. However, they want and do become more spiritual. It was “found that students' level of spiritual quest, or seeking meaning and purpose in life, rose during college” (Supiano, 2010). With these facts we, as student affairs professionals, have to decide where we, religious campus organizations, and campus chapels or chaplains fit into guiding these students spiritual or religious development. Where does this topic fit into our mottos?

            Susan A. Minasian, the chaplain of Franklin & Marshall College, wrote a moving article about the responsibility of campus chapels to provide a space in which true discourse can take place (2010).  She urges campuses to use this space as a place for all to come. She also wants the space to be for all to ask the hard questions without receiving negative answers. She challenges all that “it's important to model for students how to make room for opinions other than our own, not to run away from the uncomfortable feelings that arise when we hear opinions we don't agree with, and to consider ideas that might force us to grow and change” (Minasian, 2010). Urging universities to use chapel spaces and chaplains as tools to teach students the true meaning of discourse may be the best way to present the idea of encouraging spiritual development.

            Edington looks at the many different ways in which we can address spiritual life on our campuses (2011). He, much like Minasian, calls for the chapels or previously established places of worship to be used as interfaith laboratories. This came in response to a letter from the White House to universities asking them to serve as leaders in interfaith initiatives. In summary Edington’s suggestion lies here:

“Now colleges and universities are presented with the challenge of strengthening social harmony in a nation of increasing religious diversity. The college chapel—large, lovely, and lonely—can be the laboratory where that work is done.” (2011)

         

           Melissa Morgan urges the student affairs professional to also begin to take a role in the spiritual and religious growth of students. The students are asking that we take part in this part of their lives, “2/3 of them expect us, as university employees, to play some role in their emotional and spiritual development” (Morgan, 2013). She urges professionals to be competent in the area of spirituality and religion. This will allow professionals to not only better serve students, but begin to create a truly interfaith-friendly campus.

Edington, M. (2010). The Campus Chapel as an Interfaith Laboratory. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Minasian, S. (2010). Spiritual Life on Campus: Agreeing to Disagree. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Morgan, M. (2013). Building Bridges: Creatng an Interfaith‐Friendly Campus Culture. NASPA: Knowledge Community – Spirituality and Religion in Higher Education.

Supiano, B. (2010). How Spiritual Traits Enhance Students' Lives—and Maybe Their Grades. The Chronicle of Higher Education.