As he walks the halls of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, Bob Smith presides over perhaps the most diverse place on Penn State’s University Park campus.
For Smith, director of the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development, which operates Pasquerilla and Eisenhower Chapel, that diversity is a source of pride—and hope—in a world where respecting differences often does not come easily.
“When I walk out my office door and I see students from all over the world and every religion sitting together, working on projects or just playing a game, that to me is just, ‘OK, made my day,’” he says.
The center, which supports more than 60 religious and spiritual organizations and welcomes about 4,500 students a week, is the largest multi-faith facility of its kind in North America.
That it exists on the campus of a public university makes it even more remarkable. It does so with a considerable variety of private financial support, including fees from as many as five weddings on the busiest days at the chapel.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose brother Milton was Penn State’s president, helped lay the cornerstone for Eisenhower Chapel in 1955. While termed an all-faiths chapel, it was geared toward the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities, Smith says. A lower floor was added in 1974, and then a 22,500-square-foot addition opened in 2003 and was named the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.
Smith, who has degrees in criminal justice administration and education, has worked in the federal courts; in New York City with people with chronic mental illness; and as a teacher. He has been the director of the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development since 2005.
The university’s leadership has consistently been supportive of the center’s work through the years, he says. Spaces for prayer and meditation have been created on all campuses.
“I like to think it’s kind of related to William Penn in his holy experiment with Pennsylvania,” Smith says. “There was always this culture in Pennsylvania of, ‘Bring your religion here and you’ll be treated fairly.’ … It’s kind of appropriate that we’re smack in the middle of the state. All of this religion is right here. And the support that the different groups give and get from each other, it’s beyond what I would have even imagined happening.”
Here is more from our conversation, which took place in late October:
How do you navigate being a spiritual center in a public institution?
Smith: Most public institutions don’t have something like this. Basically, the legal issues have so many institutions kind of reluctant to get into it; with private schools, it’s totally different. With the university not wanting to even have the appearance of using any state or federal funds for religion, they did put in place that everything would be done through endowments, gifts, grants, renting space—all of that.
We have to make sure that every group is treated the same; we can’t give preference to one group over another. Even the spaces in the building that are geared toward a particular group, anybody can and does use those spaces. The advantage to that is that we can take a room such as the room that has the ark and the Torahs kept in it, and that helps us to educate when another group wants to use the room—what proper decorum would be with the Torahs in the room. And it’s amazing how great this has worked. We wanted everybody to get the sense that, yes, we have these special accommodations, but they’re for every group, not just for this group or that group.
No proselytizing is allowed in the building; if we hear that that’s happening, we just pretty much shut it down quickly. … We look at it as we’re giving the opportunity for students and anybody else to come here and freely practice without feeling intimidated or threatened or anything else. You have the freedom to come here, be who you are, develop yourself personally, [and] develop those around you because we have it set up so that there’s a lot of interaction between the different groups.
It’s just really a matter of knowing what the legal precedents are [and] using that information to plan. And then the most important piece of that is when things come up, having that knowledge, you’re able to explain to people why we can or can’t do something. And that often helps us to resolve the issues.
One of the biggest things we can do is get our folks to understand what each other’s religions are about—eliminate any fears, or these myths that they have about traditions, and get them to communicate with each other and understand that we can all exist in the same place. And I can respect you and you can respect me. We don’t have to believe the same thing, practice the same thing. But it is better for everybody if we respect that. I’m very happy that that has been so readily accepted.
Have you noticed changes or fluctuations through the years in terms of acceptance of religions other than one’s own?
Smith: Yeah. A lot of it has to do, as you might imagine, with what’s going on globally. There are times when, like the current situation with Hamas and Gaza and Israel, it does have an effect in some ways because we have students from all over the world. And this is one of the more diverse places on campus when it comes to students just hanging out, meeting here. Not only are we talking about race, we’re talking about religion, we’re talking about cultures, all sorts of diversity here. So, the nice thing is, it gives us the opportunity when things arise, differences arise, to meet about them and have a discussion. And that does have to happen.
The weird thing is how much, even though we’re here in central Pennsylvania, we can look at the trends globally, like participation in organized religion or participation in individualistic spiritual practices, and we are pretty much matching everything that we see globally. … Participation in organized religious groups has declined. So, we’ve seen some numbers here going down. On the other hand, groups like our Muslim population [he estimates 2,000 to 3,000 Muslim students on campus], we are seeing those numbers increase dramatically [as more international students attend Penn State].
Do you see yourself as a mediator … a facilitator?
Smith: Facilitator? Certainly. Mediator? At times, yes. My biggest role is advocacy for students to allow them to practice their religion and spirituality. If students want to miss a class because it’s Ash Wednesday and [they’re] just not going to be able to make it to the class because there’s a service at this time, sometimes faculty will reach out to us and say, “Is this really necessary?” And sometimes faculty, they’ll say, “I just want to verify that this or that is happening.” And then that will give a student permission to not be at class or something.
So, there is a lot of advocacy that goes on. There’s also a fair amount of support that they come to us for when it comes to feeling like they’re running into roadblocks here and there and because someone might be a little hesitant: public school, religion. Sometimes it’s a matter of, OK, you have a Muslim student who’s at a very remote campus and has difficulty getting halal food. Advocating for, “Can we do something in the residence halls so that they can maybe store some frozen food; when they’re home, they can bring some back?” So, everything from something like that to advocating for, “This group has a right to exist, even though we have other groups that are very similar to this; if they’re different in any way, they have to get approval.”
I assume there’s never a dull day.
Smith: Rarely. And when you have them, there’s always administrative work to be done, or building issues to address. But yeah, it really is fascinating.
The unfortunate piece is that it’s not all good. You have incidents of anti-Semitism that happen or Islamophobia. Those types of things, of course, are unfortunate and you’re going to run into them no matter where you are. But you do what you can there; you make connections, you set things up for students who might be affected, you do educational programs. That’s constantly an ongoing piece of it for us.
Our affiliate staff [clergy associated with various student groups] have been just awesome with being available. Let’s say some Islamophobic event happens. Frequently, our other groups, whether it’s the rabbis, the ministers that are here, often say, “Well, if you need us, we’ll be glad to help.” They’re not just looking at “my students,” but they often say, “Hey, we’re available if you need us to help.” … And that level of cooperation also makes it a big success.
Earlier, you referenced the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Have you seen any effects of that here in terms of interactions with students or discussion about it?
Smith: Here in the building, we haven’t seen any ill effects of that. Our staff talks to the students all the time. And [students] have told us just across the board that here they feel comfortable, safe, very welcome. They have no issues.
The vigil that was done [at Old Main in mid-October] by Hillel and Chabad was well attended. And then what’s been happening at the Allen Street gates that groups like Students for Justice in Palestine have been doing … what became very apparent, I think as a country we don’t do a good job of educating on the Middle Eastern issues. There’s definitely a lack of understanding that Hamas, Palestinians, Muslims can be very different. Just because you’re a Muslim doesn’t mean you’re Hamas, or support Hamas, those types of things. And a lot of people just don’t realize that they’re not one and the same.
Our Muslim groups have a lot of support meetings set up because although here on campus they feel fine, they do feel like they’re being stared at, or they hear a couple of things in passing, especially the females because they’re wearing hijabs so they’re more easily identifiable. It’s just clear that people don’t understand that, “Yeah, I might be Muslim, but I don’t agree with what Hamas did.”
Of the work at this center, what makes you most proud?
Smith: Getting to know many of the students when they first come here and watching that transformation as they grow in their own spiritual or religious practices, but also how much they are involved and grow in terms of how they view others and what their understanding is. They look beyond where they’re from, what they practice, what they believe in, and just see the individual for, “This is a good person I like now; let’s do things together.”
That always makes me most proud; when our students are getting it and saying our differences really come down to what we might believe in, but as people, as humans, we can really get along. And that to me always is the biggest thing, because then they walk out of here and take it with them. T&G
Mark Brackenbury is a former editor of Town&Gown.
