Religious Identity and Intellectual Development:
Forging Powerful Learning Communities
By Victor Kazanjian
"IN TERMS OF MY RELIGION, I AM INVISIBLE. MY PROFESSORS, THEY LOOK AT
ME, SEE THE COLOR OF MY SKIN AND THINK THEY KNOW MY STORY. I AM
AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND I AM JEWISH. HOW CAN THEY SEE ME, IF THEY DO NOT
KNOW ME? AND HOW CAN THEY TEACH ME, IF THEY DO NOT SEE ME?"
Student questions like this suggest how important it is that we begin to talk about the relationship
between religious identity and intellectual development in the context of curricular and cocurricular diversity initiatives. Religious life is an important dimension to how many students
understand themselves and the world, and therefore it needs to be considered as we work to
develop powerful learning communities on campus.
The philosophies and practices of the world's religious traditions have long been recognized as
formative in the establishment of various systems upon which societies are organized -- systems
of law, governance, education. In most colleges and universities, however, the influence of these
same philosophies and practices on the formation of individual students has gone largely
unrecognized by educators.
While issues of racial and cultural identity are finally being seen as central to a comprehensive
understanding of the intellectual development of students, religious identity has generally been
ignored in many diversity initiatives. This situation, however, is beginning to change.
Scholars who work on the impact of identity on intellectual development such as Beverly Daniel
Tatum and Daryl Smith have begun to include religion as a significant category of identity
relevant to improving education for all students. In the Spring, 1998 issue of Diversity Digest,
Daryl Smith includes religion in her analysis of campus diversity: "Diversity on campus
encompasses complex differences within the campus community and also the individuals who
compose that community. It includes such important and intersecting dimensions of human
identity as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, and
ability. These dimensions do not determine or predict anyone person's values, orientation, or life
choices. But they are by definition closely related patterns of societal experience, socialization
and affiliation. They influence ways of understanding and interpreting the world." As part of
these intersecting dimensions of identity, the ways in which religious identity affects how
students understand and interpret the world need to be understood as educational issues and need
to be taken up by campus leaders both in student and in academic affairs.
The role of religious identity in students' lives has most often been separated from the
educational programs of students and relegated to religious communities who have set up
outposts, called "chaplaincies," on college and university campuses. Often these programs have
little relationship to the educational program of their institutions. They are usually vestiges of
past entanglements between institutional past entanglements between institutional religion and
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institutions of higher education and therefore are looked upon as either irrelevant or antithetical
to contemporary secular education.
Where religious programs do exist, they provide services to students from those traditions which
have been recognized in American society -- varieties of Christian denominations and on
occasion the Jewish community as well. But American colleges and universities are diversifying
at an incredibly rapid rate. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and Baha'is are increasing
in numbers on campuses across the country posing new questions about the impact of religious
diversity on campus life and the role of religious identity and spirituality in the educational
process.
Inspired by the development of new models for incorporating religious and spiritual life into the
educational program at institutions such as Wellesley College and Brown University, a national
group of educators invited presidents, chancellors, deans, faculty, administrators, students,
alumni, trustees, and religious life professionals from colleges and universities across the country
to a two-day symposium entitled "EDUCATION as Transformation: Religious Pluralism,
Spirituality and Higher Education," held on the Wellesley College campus this past September.
More than 800 individuals from 250 colleges and universities attended, including 28 college and
university presidents together with scores of faculty members, administrators, students, and
religious life professionals.
In response to the remarkable interest shown by participants at the national gathering, the
EDUCATION as Transformation Project, located at Wellesley College, has emerged as a
national focal point for the exchange of ideas, information, and training around issues of
religious diversity and spirituality in higher education. The Project is currently in contact with
representatives from more than 400 colleges and universities across the country providing them
with educational materials, consultation, workshops, and seminars through which they can begin
to develop strategies to address these issues on their campuses.
One of the goals of this project is to explore the impact of religious diversity on higher education
and develop strategies to address: 1) the dramatic growth of religious diversity in American
colleges and universities, and 2) the desire of educational institutions to prepare their students for
a religiously diverse world. The project will take the research and theory on religious identity,
put it into practice, test it, and facilitate the creation of new models of religious life on campuses.
The Project seeks to define education as a transformational process. Through it, students are
educated to be global citizens with an understanding of the diversity of religious traditions and
strategies to engage this diversity in creative and productive ways.
Another goal of the project is to consider the role of spirituality at colleges and universities. It
will examine spirituality's relationship to teaching and learning issues, the cultivation of values,
students' moral, ethical, and intellectual development, and the fostering of global learning
communities.
By incorporating the research and theory on spirituality and education into discussions about the
educational programs of colleges and universities and by piloting programs in participating
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institutions, the Project seeks to define a student's religious/spiritual development as critical to
her/his intellectual development.
As educational institutions consider how best to prepare students for life and leadership in an
increasingly interdependent world, including religious identity in their diversity initiatives is
crucial to their becoming effective learning communities. Wellesley College's President, Diana
Chapman Walsh, describes her college's religious and spiritual life program as affirming "the
understanding of a liberal arts education as a spiritual journey as well as an intellectual one. We
are reaching toward a future in which managing the new global realities will require the ability to
move from culture to culture, to collaborate and communicate with fluency across national,
racial, religious and socioeconomic lines, and to appreciate diversity as a vital resource for
learning and growth.
Wellesley College's Religious and Spiritual Life Program
In 1993, Wellesley College initiated a new Religious and Spiritual Life Program based on
principles of religious pluralism in which all particular expressions of religious faith are
celebrated and in which dialogue about common moral, ethical, and spiritual principles is
nurtured.
Wellesley now has a multi-faith program led by the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life and a
team of advisors and student leaders from a wide array of faiths, including the Baha'i, Buddhist,
Christian (Evangelical, Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic), Hindu, Jain, Jewish,
Muslim, Native African, Native American, Pagan, Sikh, Taoist, Unitarian Universalist, and
Zoroastrian traditions. These leaders work together to develop new models for religious life
and community ritual in which each religious tradition is respected and in which no one voice
dominates.
Through this program, students and faculty at Wellesley have begun to explore questions about
integrating the spiritual dimensions of their lives into their learning. The project aims to bridge
the gap between intellectual development and emotional, social, and spiritual development.
Students and faculty have participated in a series of workshops exploring transformational
moments in the classroom in which they describe moments of meaning, inspiration, connection,
wonder, and awe. We are examining to what degree these moments constitute a spiritual
dimension within a student's overall educational experience. Dean of Religious and Spiritual
Life, Victor Kazanjian hopes this initiative can "find an educational language to describe the
transformational process that is already happening in the classroom which is more than simply
the passing on of information."
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