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About a year after receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from UC Davis, Pack says he felt compelled by God to go on a mission trip. He joined Youth With a Mission and spent five months in South America doing everything from helping with a campaign against violence to speaking at schools.
It was also during that time that he was admitted to USF’s master’s program in international and development economics. The program, says Pack, connects with his spiritual desire to help the less fortunate.
He began the program this year, and even before fully adjusting to life as a graduate student, Pack asked around to find a local church to attend. He came across Promised Land Fellowship in San Francisco and now attends Sunday services there.
Regardless of how open on campus students are with their spirituality, having students of various faiths helps “push people to be better in their own faiths,” says Fr. Godfrey.
Fr. Savard agrees, recalling an immersion trip to Belize where one of the students was a practicing Muslim. Not only were the students touched by what they saw in the country, he says, but they were also touched by this student’s faithfulness to his religion’s ritual of praying five times a day.
In fact, USF’s May 2007 Graduating Student Survey found that nearly 86 percent felt that individual, ethnic, religious, and other differences were valued at USF. Of the graduating students, 70 percent agreed that their appreciation of these differences increased while at USF.
As one student wrote on the open-ended portion of the survey, “The diverse people I have encountered at USF has made me appreciate and respect different cultures, beliefs, and religions.”
Interfaith understanding and dialogue is something Fr. Godfrey hopes to further, knowing that students are already open to such discussions. Compared with other universities he has been part of, he says USF students enjoy learning about other belief systems.
Sumerra Khan rinses her right foot in the sink of a University Center bathroom. Her right foot thoroughly rinsed, she sets it down on the tile and hoists her left foot to the sink to repeat the process.
When she finishes the ritual washing, Khan walks to a nearby quiet room where she sets up her prayer rug. This is Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month, and a time when Muslims do not eat or drink anything—including water—from sunrise to sunset each day. That means the senior biology major goes through her day of classes, studying, and meetings on an empty stomach.
“It’s a way to test your faith and what you can do for your religion,” says Khan, who doesn’t mind the fasting except when her stomach rumbles loudly. “It’s so embarrassing during class. That’s the only thing that bothers me. Other than that, it’s no problem.”
For 21-year-old Khan, the fasting of Ramadan is but one example of her efforts to be a good Muslim. Islam asks followers to pray five times a day at set times, but those don’t always correspond to Khan’s schedule. Yet Khan tries to pray as much as she can and focuses on the prayers she is able to complete—the early morning one and the late afternoon ones. She lives at home with her family in San Bruno, so setting aside time and space for those prayers is not only easy to do, but also expected.
On Fridays, however, Khan will sometimes get in her noontime prayer while on campus. Fridays are a holy day in Islam and the 15-member Muslim Student Union (MSU) often works with University Ministry to reserve a room for prayer on those days just as it does throughout the month of Ramadan.
As a freshman, Khan co-founded the MSU to provide Muslim students with a built-in community of peers and to provide the campus at large with a chance to learn about Islam. Everyone is invited to MSU events such as an iftar dinner that celebrates the breaking of the Ramadan fast as well as lectures on topics such as “Women and Islam” and “What is Islam?”
“Even if we don’t have a lot of Muslims, our goal is to educate about what we believe,” says Khan, who was elected president this year. Not quite 1 percent of USF undergraduates identify themselves as Muslim.
That understanding is especially important in this post September 11 world, says Khan. A greater appreciation no doubt helps as Khan follows her religion by dressing conservatively, eating halal, or Islam approved food, and taking classes about her religion.
“My religion is a part of who I am,” says Khan, “a major part.”
That sentiment is shared by many USF students. They know that spiritual development goes beyond attending services on a designated day. For today’s college students, it can involve everything from volunteer work to quiet reflection and prayer to following dietary restrictions. College doesn’t have to automatically mean a time to ignore one’s faith. Rather, at USF, it can mean a deepening of it.
Interactions with professors, staff, and even other students can help strengthen spiritual ties regardless of whether they happen in class, in the dorm, or anywhere else on campus. USF students understand that spiritual guidance is not something provided solely by campus religious leaders in religious settings.
“It’s not like these people do spiritual development and these people do something else,” says Fr. Godfrey. “It’s all of our responsibility. It’s a Jesuit university.”
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