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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18827
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
11/1/2007
9:56:22 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 4,817
RSS: 13,524
Comments: 7
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New Marshall Policy Lets Pagan Students Miss Class On Holidays
Author: The Associated Press Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
Title: NEW MARSHALL POLICY LETS PAGAN STUDENTS MISS CLASS ON HOLIDAYS
When George Fain visits a grave today to mark a pagan holiday, she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classes at Marshall University in Huntington.
That's because her absence on the Samhain holiday has been approved by the school, which for the first time is recognizing pagan students' desire to be excused from class for religious holidays and festivals.
The university with an enrollment of about 14,000 may be the only school in the country to formally protect pagan students from being penalized by missing work that falls on religious holidays, although other schools have catchall policies they say protect students from every religious faith.
But as members of the eclectic group of faiths gathered under the term "pagan'' become more willing to publicly assert their beliefs, Fain suggests other schools may follow Marshall's example.
Additional Article Link: [Click HERE]
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Community Thoughts: There are 7 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Qualified Success | Nov 2nd. at 7:54:52 am EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
I'm happy to see someone-- and someone in my old home state, no less-- at least making steps in the direction of acknowledging us, our beliefs, and our practices on the same terms as everyone else.
You can't get too upset over the comments of the local folks. I mean, come on-- Anybody who's going to say something like, "Wonder if I can get Groundhog Day off to go hunting?" isn't going to let anything come between him and his Budweiser.
Although the answer is, technically, "If you practice some forms of Paganism, YES." Groundhog Day coincides with Imbolc/Feast of the Bride/Waking Up Day/Whatever Your Trad Calls It. In some traditions, anyway, going hunting would be a sacred thing to do.
But, well, I grew up around folks with BillyBob's attitude, and somehow I imagine his truck is about the only thing sacred to him.
If I were an English professor-- the only kind of professor I'd be-- I think I'd make everybody in my class submit an essay describing their belief and practice, hold a workshop, use it as a nice tolerance education session for everyone in class...
...and then hold them to whatever they stated as their beliefs all semester.
My English class would quickly turn into Religious Studies.
Requiring a note from the preacher/minister/rabbi/priest/priestess/whatever sounds like a good idea...
...until you think about how that lets out solitaries of all forms...
...but then again, solitiaries have a unique flexibility in scheduling their services. I know it worked for me.
As long as I remembered to save an absense for Waking Up Day. Whether religious piety or spring fever, I never could sit in class when things were waking up.
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| How Bout An Essay | Nov 1st. at 6:38:20 pm EDT
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ladynoogs (lowell, Ohio) - Email Me
from each student stating that they need Christmas off becasue they are Christian. Why is it that pagans have to PROVE they are "real" pagans anc Xians dont have to prove they are real Christians by writting an essay as to why they need that day off?
hmmm double standerd much. Maybe because they are afraid that non-religious students will take advantage... kinda like on Seinfeld where the dentist decides to be Jewish so he can make anti-semetic Jokes and it be ok?
But still if one group has to write an essay to show they need a certain religous holiday off then ALL students should have to.
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| Difficult Details | Nov 1st. at 2:01:12 pm EDT
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me
Aside: Note the poll linked to the second article above. Currently, it's running about 3:1 in favor of denying pagans core civil rights, as if that's somehow a valid political question in the local TV station's perspective. If just 10 percent of the likely WV readers of this article vote there, it'd be over 80% in favor of equal protections of rights for pagans.
This report impresses me as conflicted and only partially accurate, base on what I found researching the university policies after the previous WV report, and statements Dean Hensley made in an email exchange I had with him over the proposed change in official policies.
It's good to see that Marshall is honoring pagan holidays now. However, Dean Hensley and this report both stated that the university did NOT change (and will not be changing) official policies, to list pagan Sabbats as formally recognized holidays for class excuses to students, as a faculty committee previously recommended.
The quoted statements and attributed comments, like "the decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work from classes on holidays was simply an extension of existing university policy toward members of other religious groups," are consistent between this article, and my discussion with the Dean. Some terms used in this article and quoted as from the Dean, not in the prior one, are framing of terms I used in email to him. His response to me about both legal and religious aspects of policy I raised gave the impression that the university did not intend to add pagan dates to its calendar, but did intend to take student requests seriously under existing policy. That is what this article impresses me as demonstrating has now in fact been done, not that the faculty committee recommendation was adopted (it was tabled) .
The issues of pagan holidays are not easy for institutions operated by formal calendars, especially when some pagans follow rigid calendars, and others offset rituals or events to not conflict among nearby groups, or for convenience around member schedules. It's not easy when many go by a Celtic wheel, but so many pagan paths exist that every last day ending in "y" honors some Norse god, while most other days are higher holy days for some pagan path or another. As such, the idea of students needing to front requests for which conflict dates are important to them makes more sense than a formal pagan calendar, which calendar would also fail to meet the needs of all pagans equitably. The Dean mentioned how professors are free to remind students who are near failing in classes of potential consequences, an idea found in some of our paths themselves, and to evaluate based on past credibility which students make honest requests, or attempt to scam the system.
Relative to the diversity among pagans, that may well be a more functional system than what faculty had proposed. It requires honest decisions by professors, or the Dean on appeals, and would be helped if few to no students use the cover of pagan variable ritual schedules as fraudulent excuses to evade course work or exams. The school is also aware now that thousands of pagans, including many leaders and legal activists around the country, are watching Marshall to see how well and maturely it makes those decisions.
It's my impression Dean Hensley intends to do his part to work with valid pagan student requests under existing policy. It's my impression that this series of articles, faculty reviews, and discussions they prompted within and outside the school community, have resulted in some consciousness raising to make it more likely existing policy will be applied properly. If not, the school also has now considered some of the case law which would likely be raised if any challenges outside their own student policy system are ever needed.
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| Colleges Are Our Best Hope | Nov 1st. at 12:39:29 pm EDT
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Young Coyote (W. Hempstead, California) - Email Me
We had a rather large pagan population at my college when I attended. It wasn't a big school but I would say about 1/5th of the population would identify themselves as some form of pagan.
I wouldn't say that is true about all colleges but from what I understand it's hard to find a college or university that doesn't have a pagan club at this point.
If there's any place where the Pagan movement is going to gain ground and help us achieve a "breakthrough", it's going to be from the schools. Just take a quick look at the past 50 or so years in American history. Almost every "struggle" started to make gains because of schools, whether directly or indirectly.
And the tearing down of the fliers is common practice and thankfully the only one really. At least I havn't heard of anything worse than that. It's more annoying than anything else.
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| As A WVU Fan... | Nov 1st. at 12:10:38 pm EDT
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Orionova (Morgantown, West Virginia) - Email Me
I say, way to go, Marshall!
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| Breaking Through! | Nov 1st. at 11:40:23 am EDT
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Sarah (Anderson, Indiana) - Email Me
I love the last sentence in this article... "The American neopagan movement is larger than you think." Oh yes, it sure is. And this is a big step toward letting the world know it.
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