George Mason Meditation Space Stirs Controversy

Culture: A followup going back a couple of months where a general meditation room got hijacked by some unruly MSA members. It is unclear how much the admin will step in to make sure this situation is corrected.

In the last school year, many students began to voice concerns about the seeming takeover of the meditation space by Muslims on the student government forum, TalkMason.com. The popularity level on the message board about the topic has stayed high; it is currently the top thread on the site, with the most posts on it and the most page views. The space, which contains: rugs on the floor, laid out by a Mason administrator; screens dividing the space into gender-specific areas; and a number of shoe racks; has prompted student complaints. Many see the public university space as being run by Muslims while Mason turns a blind eye. In addition, non-Muslim students spoke on the forum about experiences where they were asked to leave the space or felt harassed. “Many Jewish students have expressed interest in using the space but felt too intimidated or felt that such a move might be too provocative to follow through on,” a statement from the Hillel Student Board said. Other religious groups on campus were contacted for comment but no others had responded by deadline. Joseph Sorgini, senior government and international politics major, spoke of an encounter in the meditation space when he went to go pray a rosary in March. “I had no sooner finished “and the Holy Spirit, Amen” in my head when two men approached me and asked me to get up,” Sorgini said. “I was hesitant at first, so one of the individuals responded with the statement ‘What ever you have in your hand there, you can not use that here.’” Sorgini was told by the men, who identified themselves as members of MSA but would not say their names, that the Space was an area designated for Muslim prayer use. He was told that he should have removed his shoes as well. “I apologized for the confusion, but told him that I was made aware that this space was open for all religions or those who use meditation for non-religious purposes to use,” Sorgini said. “The first male, who had responded earlier about the rosary in my hand, told me that this was not true, and asked that I leave. Not wanting to find myself in the middle of an argument, I exchanged goodbyes with them, and left the area.” ....After the previous Broadside article was published, the meditation space issue came to the attention of other news publications. USA Today wrote an article titled, “Some say schools giving Muslims special treatment,” which mentioned the space. In the article, Alissa Karton, assistant to the vice president for university life, said that once the Broadside article came out, the school ordered students to roll up prayer rugs when not in use and move the dividers. On a recent inspection of the meditation space, it was observed that a new sign hangs on the wall with rules for the space, including the requirement that a set of chairs must remain in the space. However, the rule stating that the dividers in the space must not be moved is phrased generally. The meditation space currently looks much the same as it did last year.