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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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Mike Havenstein is campus pastor for Christian
groups at UC and Xavier.
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As the number of foreign students keeps rising, you might expect a similar diversification in the types of religious groups represented on college campuses. After all, the world is mostly not white and not Christian. But although Greater Cincinnati is experiencing more cultural integration, you wouldn't know it by the religious organizations at local colleges.
At the University of Cincinnati and at Xavier, Miami and Northern Kentucky universities, student organizations cater to the majority population -- in other words, Christian and white. Some of the reason is not within the schools' control, according to Philip Goff, director of the Center for Study of Religion and American Culture at Purdue University.
"A lot depends on the city," he says.
If the city were more diverse, he says, more diversity might exist in religious organizations on campuses.
"There's no easy answer," Goff says. "If a university is a state school, it cannot financially sponsor a group because of the separation of church and state."
But that doesn't mean state schools are spiritually sterile; religion is present on the campuses of public universities.
"I don't know how to describe our religious climate," says NKU Dean of Students Bill Lamb. "Is it omnipresent? I wouldn't say it was sheltered."
NKU has eight registered religious groups, Lamb says. All eight represent Christian denominations. Almost 11 percent of NKU's student groups have religious ties -- a number that has not changed in Lamb's 18 years as dean of students.
UC considers itself to have a very diverse religious atmosphere and welcomes all people of faith, says Lucy Croft, director of student activities and organizations. Thirteen religious organizations operate at UC, where a strong campus-ministries association has taken on a stronger role in recent years.
While the activities roster shows a solid Christian following, UC does have a Unitarian group and a Pagan group; but Croft says she doesn't know if they're still active.
Members of the Pagan group could not be reached for comment.
The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (UUF), which specialized in the spiritual needs of UC's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, is defunct.
Four Unitarian churches launched the fellowship in 1996, according to Howard Tolley, a UC professor of political science and former faculty advisor to UUF.
The group died not because of lack of interest, but because of a logistical reality: UC is a commuter campus, and many students drive home in the evening. That made it hard to garner enough students to have evening meetings, Tolley says.
"The Unitarian group enjoyed tremendous success in Indiana," he says, "but that's a residential campus."
Tolley says the UUF did not have the luxury of strong ministerial direction enjoyed by most of the Christian groups for example, someone to give a brief sermon at social events. Religion came via Unitarian literature.
To remedy the situation, the young members of St. John's Unitarian Church formed their own social club, the Old Kids Recreational Association.
One place you might not expect religious diversity is at a school run by a particular religious denomination. But not all religious groups at Catholic-run Xavier University are Catholic. Most student religious groups operate out of the school's Office of Campus Ministry, but there is one independent organization -- the Navigators.
Three years ago, a group of Xavier students went to UC's Navigator headquarters and invited the group to the Jesuit school. The Navigators applied. Xavier, with no Protestant group on campus despite having more than a few non-Catholic students, approved the group's registration. XU even designated the Navigators the "New Club of the Year."
"In some respects, it doesn't feel much different," says Mike Havenstein, campus pastor for the Navigator groups at XU and UC. "We're just a different avenue if students want to pursue Christianity."
The Navigators began as a non-denominational church in the 1930s to "reach, disciple and equip students to know Christ and make him known," Havenstein says. Members meet Tuesday nights at XU, drawing 75 to 150 students. Membership rises each year, Havenstein says.
Miami University's campus religious groups are also mostly Christian, but the university is working to make the environment more inclusive, according to Stephanie DiPaulo, program director for the Hillel Foundation at Miami.
"We're in the minority here," DiPaulo says. "But that's the nature of the world. We live in a very Christian-based world."
The Hillel Foundation serves the needs of about 800 Jewish students, DiPaulo says. Besides social events, it has offered a place for students to explore their individual practice of Judaism since at least 1974.
DiPaulo says membership remains strong, and students of all ages frequent the center.
"More people get involved as they get older, because they've grown up and decided how they want Judaism to play in their lives," she says.
One segment of the student population seems conspicuously absent at local colleges -- religious groups for African-Americans. Black students searching for spiritual fulfillment on campus might have some difficulty. None of the four local universities has a religious group that gears itself to this segment of the population.
Clarence Wallace, pastor of Carmel Presbyterian Church in Avondale, says he is unaware of any campus groups to serve African-American students. His church fosters its own support network by offering financial aid to college-bound students and by helping them find places of worship once they get to college.
Although there is no organized effort to reach out to the area's African-American college students, individual churches make their own efforts, Wallace says.
"Many schools do have support groups," he says, "but some kids who go to UC don't speak favorably about groups existing to meet their spiritual needs."
Goff shares Wallace's view, saying many African-American students belong to congregations, and those take precedence over any campus religious groups.
Trends on college campuses show up along ethnic lines, Goff says. Changes in diversity are slow in coming, but coming they are.
"It's only since 1965 with the Immigration Act that we're seeing these changes," Goff says. "Sociologists have discovered that religion is second to language as a way ethnicity survives in groups."
Nothing prevents more diverse groups from registering on campuses except, perhaps, lack of student organization. None of the campuses has rules aimed specifically at religious organizations. Generally, the groups must register like any other student organization. But that is not to say religious groups have not sometimes caused concern among college administrators.
In 1998, NKU and UC reported problems with one organization -- the Cincinnati Church of Christ.
The church resisted registering with the student organizations office at NKU but wanted to solicit students on campus property, Lamb says. Soon the school began receiving reports the group was connected to a larger organization and demonstrated cult-like characteristics.
"It wasn't a serious problem," Lamb says. "We asked them to leave or register as a group. We treated them the same as we would have treated the Girl Scouts."
UC had a much harder time with the group, according to Lamb.
UC reported numerous complaints alleging a group called Campus Advance was harassing students who left the organization. Nine years earlier, UC had expelled a group, Christians on Campus, for similar reasons. After further investigation, the university determined the two groups were one and the same, with Christians on Campus just assuming a different name.
In January 1999, UC denied the group campus access because it found Campus Advance caused students mental and emotional anguish. As a result, UC wants to be more aware of groups registering on campus.
"We don't discriminate against groups," Croft says. "As long as they are not destructive or cult-like and uphold the mission, value and ethics of the university, they are welcome on campus."
Campus Advance harmed students, Croft says. Now UC asks groups to identify their national affiliation, in order to permit more thorough review of who is really who.
UC bars unregistered groups from campus unless a student group or a university office or department sponsors them.
Groups such as Campus Advance hurt other religious organizations, Croft says.
By contrast, many religious groups use a positive approach to attract students. The Navigators have a Kindness Outreach program that, along with a little group advertisement, helps the public know they are out to do no harm.
Free food helps. On occasion the Navigators have passed out free ice cream and hamburgers.
"We just have fun," Havenstein says. "It helps break down the Christian stereotypes." ©
