{"id":127,"date":"2012-04-04T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skepticblogs.com\/justinvacula\/2012\/04\/04\/marywood-secular-student-alliance-denied-school-newspaper-publishes-article\/"},"modified":"2012-04-04T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T19:45:00","slug":"marywood-secular-student-alliance-denied-school-newspaper-publishes-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/2012\/04\/04\/marywood-secular-student-alliance-denied-school-newspaper-publishes-article\/","title":{"rendered":"Marywood Secular Student Alliance denied, school newspaper publishes article"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Marywood University’s student newspaper published an article detailing my efforts to start a Secular Student Alliance group at Marywood University. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Marywood denied my motion to start this club.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Here is the text of the article:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

A new group that has been denied approval as an official club is stirring controversy on campus due to its nature.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe Marywood University Secular Student Alliance (MUSSA), led by Justin Vacula, a first-year mental health counseling graduate student, recently went before Student Activities and Campus Ministry seeking university approval and club status.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>
\nAccording to MUSSA\u2019s Facebook group page, which was launched on January 29, the mission of the alliance is \u201cto provide a community for secular individuals\u2026foster discussion about topics relating to ethics, the separation of church and state, supernatural and paranormal beliefs; work with other local secular groups; and to present a positive and accurate view of secular individuals to the community at large.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vacula met with Carl Oliveri, director of student activities and leadership development, and Sr. Catherine Luxner, director of Campus Ministry, to discuss his proposed organization. Vacula said that Oliveri and Luxner denied MUSSA club status for various reasons, the most prominent being that it the club\u2019s mission conflicts with \u201cthe Catholic identity of Marywood.\u201d<\/span>
\nAccording to the Student Activities web page, all clubs \u201cmust adhere to the Mission Statements of Marywood University\u2026 the Center for Student Activities and Leadership Development, [and] the Core Values of Marywood University.\u201d In addition to one of Marywood\u2019s Core Values being \u201cCatholic Identity,\u201d its Mission Statement states that it \u201cchallenges students to make decisions based on spiritual, ethical, and religious values.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHowever, Vacula argued that the Mission Statement can be interpreted in a way that would support a student organization for atheists. \u00a0That part reads: \u00a0\u201cMarywood offers\u2026a welcoming and supportive community that encourages men and women of all backgrounds to shape their lives as leaders in service to others.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nHe also cited the part of the Catholic Identity Statement, which he argues supports the mission of MUSSA: \u201cThe University welcomes people of all religious and humanistic traditions to participate in [open respectful dialogue] so as to arrive at truth.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nDespite the fact that not everyone who attends the university is Catholic or even a follower of any faith, Oliveri said he feels that its religious affiliation sets it apart.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n\u201cThis is Marywood; it\u2019s a private Catholic institution. It\u2019s a lot different than a public institution or a community college,\u201d said Oliveri.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, Vacula argued that regardless of its Catholic identity, Marywood is still an institution of higher learning which should be promoting diversity. \u00a0\u201c[The administration] should be accepting of a group like this because higher education is about considering \u2018big questions,\u2019 encountering foreign ideas, and challenging one\u2019s own beliefs. Being a Catholic campus is all the more reason for a club like this to exist on campus,\u201d said Vacula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other clubs, like the Ally Club, an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning students, have been recognized and funded, though it is well-known that the Catholic church condemns homosexuality. \u00a0Vacula cited this club as another reason MUSSA should be granted approval.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nVacula said Oliveri and Luxner also argued that there aren\u2019t many students who would be interested in MUSSA. However, Vacula said that he knows of many secular students on campus. The MUSSA Facebook group had 12 student members at press time, though Vacula said he suspects many more exist but withhold their identity for fear of alienation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNegative stereotypes and general misunderstanding exists surrounding secular individuals, so this club would be a good opportunity to correct those stereotypes and misunderstandings. We want to present an accurate depiction of what non-theists are like. Atheists don\u2019t think people who are religious are stupid or misinformed,\u201d Vacula said.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nEven though MUSSA has not been approved as of press time, Vacula said he is currently working on tweaking various aspects of the club in order to make it more acceptable to administration and will continue to meet with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Oliveri, there is still an open and active dialogue between Vacula, student activities and Campus Ministry. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll always listen to students, but sometimes you have to make decisions that [they] don\u2019t want to hear and that\u2019s just the way it is,\u201d said Oliveri.<\/span>
\nVacula\u2019s plans for MUSSA include holding two-hour bi-weekly meetings with an open discussion. He also plans to invite guest speakers and hold special events such as \u201cAsk an Atheist.\u201d Vacula said that while the group would be primarily for like-minded people, it is open to everyone. \u201c[This group] shouldn\u2019t be seen as a threat, but should be something to embrace.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nSr. Catherine Luxner declined to comment, citing confidentiality issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you’d like to support my efforts to form a club for secular students, please share this blog post and join the group’s Facebook page<\/a> whether you are a Marywood student or not!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marywood University’s student newspaper published an article detailing my efforts to start a Secular Student Alliance group at Marywood University. Marywood denied my motion to start this club. Here is the text of the article: A new group that has been denied approval as an official club is stirring controversy on campus due to its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","category-marywood-university","category-me-in-the-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}