The Religious Dorm at The Public University

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/education/the-christian-dorm-at-the-public-university.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

2. Category of Problem/Issue: Religion & Education

3. Level of Problem: National

4. This Article Concerns: Controversy over the addition of a religious (Catholic) dorm to an Alabama state university; The Newman Student Housing Fund initiative and plans; and the growing rate of spiritual/religion seeking college students in the United States.

5. Importance/affect on families/individuals: The addition of the new student housing facility to Troy University was an improvement in the eyes of most people directly affected or involved. This dorm however, represents a sweeping new change in college campuses. We are beginning to see an outcropping of religious-themed housing options becoming available to new college freshmen, offering a living space to share with people who were raised with similar values. As you can imagine, many parents are all for this unique take on modern college life. The affect on other families or individuals who are not religious could be the preferential environment that is being created and funded for people who do seek a spiritual life. Is it fair to favor religious students?

6. My Input: I think it is a definitely a new and unique take on modern college living to incorporate values-based dorms, but I also feel it is quite narrowing from the original idea of what college life (as a freshmen) is expected to be like. There are many positive outcomes of this option for a portion of students, some of which include: an easier transition from living at home with parents to living alone for the first time, peers that have similar experiences to relate to (tighter support networks), a routine to follow (chapel on Wednesdays, church on Sundays, etc), and an emotionally safe place to be in times of stress and turmoil. Some potentially negative outcomes include: less diversity among students, fewer opportunities to relate to people who have valuable experiences with other religions to share, the issue of separation between church and state arises, and many people of other religious sects could feel disadvantaged or inferior to members of religions who are less predominant on their campuses. Personally, I thought the whole idea was "kosher" (hehe so punny) until I continued to read on to learn that the entire project at Troy University was started by a man named Mr. Schmidt who stated that, "the University would give preference to students who were Christians and maintained an active spiritual life,"---they were referencing which population of students would have priority in getting a room in this new dorm. As a student myself I really would not feel comfortable with this pseudo-segregation in the dorms based on religious affiliation and how many days a week I was involved in Bible study. I am more in favor of universities making faith-based housing available to students where there is no mention of a specific religion in any admittance rule book. But I also feel this subject breaches a very sensitive social issue and almost feel that freshmen are only on most college campuses for a year or two years max, after that most students want to be in apartments with their "like friends" and do the whole thing their way, on their terms. I think since the time span of students living on college campuses is so short, its  almost too accommodating of the University to try to make entire student housing operations that are conducive to the parameters of each individuals preferences; as far as religion is concerned. My thoughts as I was reading the article for Troy University (and no disrespect to Christianity/people in favor) were, "Don't they have anything better to worry about as far as expansion or allocation of funds is concerned?! Most of the time you hear about Universities practically enlisting bake sales to pay for the new parking garages or stadium concession stands." This leads me to my next thought, which is: "its important to put everything into it's context." Troy University in Alabama must really have an outstanding population of religious students in order for the values-based Christian dorm to reach the forefront of the University Board for approval and funding. With a campus that has this "student body make up" maybe it was the next best addition to the campus for the students; after all the campus is supposed to represent the atmosphere of the student body. College is what the students make it, and we are all given the opportunity to take a campus tour to feel out this atmosphere. Troy University might be seen by some as an oasis in the dessert for a Christian who couldn't afford a private education but wanted a religious tone to their experience. I guess my input is that this article really did shock me, because I couldn't believe it was possible to have a dorm designated for a religion but at the same time every student there can choose to remain a part of that student body or not.