I am delighted to share the news that campus will soon be opening a reflection space for prayer, meditation, and contemplative practices. This space in Quarry Plaza will fill an important need, offering our student community a quiet space to pursue spiritual well-being through prayer or meditation.
The drop-in center will occupy the space currently used by ID Card and Book Buyback Services, next to Bay Tree Bookstore. These services will move to new locations within the store. We aim to open the reflection space in May.
Students and our faith community have called for the creation of a prayer space for two decades. While the reflection space is not perfect, it is long overdue and helps us in a small way address longstanding concerns of our Muslim community. I want to recognize the leadership of our Muslim students in making this happen. The students and the Muslim Student Association, as well as members of the University Interfaith Council, have long advocated for such a space. More recently, the Division of Student Success; Colleges, Housing and Educational Services; Bay Tree Bookstore and ID Card Services; and staff and faculty across campus have worked creatively and collaboratively to help bring this to fruition.
I am also grateful to Greg Gilbert, chair of the environmental studies department, for providing temporary space in the Interdisciplinary Sciences Building the past few years to tide us over until this point.
While we have identified space on a campus with real space shortages, there are still many questions to answer and much work to be done. I have asked the Dean of Students Office to lead a campuswide conversation about use and oversight of this new student resource. Please contact the Dean of Students Office (deanofstudents@ucsc.edu) with any questions or if you would like to be involved.
I look forward to the grand opening and will share more information about this reflection space soon.
