Student Senate would like to see an interfaith prayer room in Baker University Center where people of all religions can pray or meditate throughout the day.
The idea, suggested at its meeting Wednesday night, was sparked by a successful interfaith panel held by senate’s International Affairs Commission earlier in the week.
Galbreath Chapel is a facility open to students, said Dusty Kilgour, executive director of Event Services, who was present for the night’s discussion.
Some senate members said they were concerned if members of various faiths would feel welcome in a chapel designed for Christian worship.
Baker is also a more convenient location to follow set prayer times that might not fit into the allocated hours the chapel is open, said Hashim Pashtun, senate international affairs commissioner.
Galbreath’s hours were not available online.
Kilgour introduced an initiative called, “Your Umbrella,” in which the university would purchase 70 umbrellas to place in Baker for people who walk through on rainy days.
“It’s somewhat of a social experiment,” Kilgour said.
The umbrellas would be free to take, but those who use them would be encouraged to return them later for others to use, or give them to someone else in need.
The experiment would be paid for by “money saved in staffing,” Kilgour said, but exact figures weren’t available by press time.
Senate was also confused about the university’s cheating policy. Members thought professors could fail students even if deemed innocent by Community Standards.
However, Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones clarified faculty members can handle the issue independently, which can also be reported to Community Standards separately.
“It’s kind of two processes,” Hall-Jones said.
Hall-Jones also reminded students to wear red Thursday in remembrance of the two-year anniversary of the Chardon High School shooting.
There will be a vigil at 9:15 p.m. at the Athens Civil War Monument on Thursday, said Kelsey Crowley, residential life senator and graduate of Chardon High School.
“There are 86,400 seconds in a day,” Crowley said. “It took T.J. Lane 47 seconds to ruin and affect a lot of lives, and it only takes a few seconds to show an act of kindness.”
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