University Chronicle

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Nicole Bock Ibsaa Gelmo washes his feet in the foot wash room in Atwood. The foot wash room is in Atwood 151.

Media Credit: Nicole Bock Isbaa Gelmo rinses his head and neck Tuesday afternoon in the foot sink room in Atwood before praying.

Media Credit: Nicole Bock Isbaa Gelmo dries off in Atwood 151. The room contains a foot sink for all students to use.

Rituals abound for many religions.

Christians take communion in churches, Jews perform group prayers in synagogues and Muslims can pray to Mecca in mosques.

The latter group, however, is required to bow to Mecca at least five times a day, and before doing so, must wash their hands, mouths and especially their feet each time.

Muslim students at SCSU have had a location in Atwood to do just that since 2001, when the Muslim student population began to soar in numbers, to around 200. (Exact numbers are not known, as religious affiliation is not an SCSU application question.)

Atwood management, at that time headed by director Ed Bouffard, made the decision to install a foot sink after students and faculty brought safety concerns to their attention.

"They were washing their feet before they pray as part of their religious culture, and so they were washing them in our sink area in our main floor restroom, and as a consequence, a lot of water was getting on the floor, and it was slippery and a safety hazard," Bouffard said.

Making a Decision

Bouffard said since he did not have the ability to tell them they couldn't wash their feet any more, he made a decision to convert a small restroom into a sink area. The Muslim Student Association made no special request for the area, and Bouffard said it was simply a matter of public safety. Bouffard said no official response was given about the sink addition, but said individuals were appreciative that Atwood was worried about everyone's safety and was addressing it.

During Atwood renovations in 2004, a decision was made to maintain the foot sink. At that time, various Muslim students were consulted about the design of the sink. Bouffard said the Atwood Center Council, a body with student representatives, was also supportive of the decision to keep the sink.

"You need to respond to what your clients are doing," Bouffard said. "So if we have a large group of students who are washing their feet, that is an issue you have to resolve. It is not a religious issue, it is an issue of providing a safe environment for all our students."

Ruffling Feathers

But some people have not seen the issue in the same regard. SCSU made national headlines when FOX news anchor Bill O'Reilly mentioned the foot sinks during his program, and SCSU was consistently used as an example when the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, a state-run college, proposed renovating bathrooms to include foot washing basins.

While several comparisons were made, Bouffard said the main differenceused as an example when the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, a state-run college, proposed renovating bathrooms to include foot washing basins.
While several comparisons were made, Bouffard said the main difference between the two schools is where funding comes from. Atwood is run and maintained through student funds, not state or tuition dollars. Bouffard said the building subsequently has more freedom to accomplish its own mission, that of being a student center, separate from the state's mission, which requires separation of church and state.

"The purpose of our building is to serve student organizations, and as part of freedom of religion, students have the ability to create their own student organizations based upon religious tenants," he said. "Our function is to serve the group, not to serve the religion. And if their group gathers around a particular context, that is their choice, and we serve those groups."

Unfair Treatment
Apart from funding, however, the issue of preferential treatment was also discussed. The Minneapolis Community and Technical College had banned a campus coffee cart from playing Christmas carols the year before, and at SCSU, the annual "Christmas tree" adorning a residence hall has come under fire several times.

But Bouffard said preferential treatment was not the case here.
"One of the big issues has been unfair treatment of Christian groups relevant to Muslim groups," he said. "Sometimes people frame it as, 'well gee, you are catering to Muslim students, and Christians can't do that.' Well in the case of the foot sink, it is done for safety. They don't pray in that room, they wash their feet in that room, and that is a cultural difference. I think here we certainly serve both groups."

Bouffard said about 12 Christian groups use Atwood's facilities, and in 2006, Christian groups made 454 building reservations compared to 55 for Muslim groups.

A Christian organization also recently conducted a 24-hour prayer room, and Bouffard said Native American students have sometimes requested to burn sage to cleanse rooms. In those cases, fire alarms were temporarily turned off to allow the burning. Certain Pagan and Wiccan groups also meet in Atwood regularly.

Religious Uses

Atwood is also home to a meditation room, located in the cultural center, where any student can choose to close the door, meditate, pray or sit in a quiet room.

"Our Constitution requires that we provide freedom of religion for everybody, and whatever their religion might be, that they be able to practice that," Bouffard said. "We don't put a value on why this student group has formed. We don't want an administrator to decide this particular group is something that students should be able to associate around and this particular topic they shouldn't."

Bouffard said Atwood has had to turn away religious groups from using the facilities, but not because of their religious affiliations. He said some groups wanted to use Atwood everyday for prayer sessions, so administrators made a policy that no student organization could have more than three events a week to prevent one group from monopolizing the rooms.
"Out of 200 organizations, if everybody did that, we wouldn't have space," he said.

Bouffard said Atwood is not out to promote any religion, but said they recognize that students have a wide variety of religious needs.

"We are here to provide opportunities to become fully educated, and part of that is a spiritual component for many students, not for all, but for many," he said. "So providing ways for that to happen is not providing preferences to any one group. We aren't going to put a crucifix in the room, we aren't going to put religious symbols in any spaces, we aren't going to create a space based on religious preference, but we are going to work with our students, and religion is a part of our students' lives. If they are telling us they would like to have spaces for their own religion to deal with issues, and if it makes sense for us, we will work with them on it."

More Than a Sink
As for the foot sink, it's become a widely used room, but not in the way many may think. Bouffard said Muslim students tend to use the area for their Friday afternoon prayer times, but they aren't the only ones taking advantage of the sink.

It is occasionally used by art students to fill buckets and by food service employees to fill carts, as it is a way to fill large containers with water without having to do it where chemicals are present, such as a maintenance room. Buffard said a student from Nepal, of the Hindu faith, also uses it because his faith requires its followers to wash their hands in an area that does not have a restroom in it.

And with around 45 hand sinks scattered throughout Atwood, Bouffard said one foot sink shouldn't be out of the question.
"As your culture changes to become more diverse, you respond your facility based upon the cultural changes people bring to you," he said. "If you wanted to, you could wash your hands in the foot sink. If you wanted to, you could fill a cup for hot chocolate in the foot sink. It's just a sink."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools