The petition
Unlike other universities sited in major cities, the Ithaca/Cornell Muslim community has neither a mosque nor a full-time, regular Imam (or anyone to act as a full-time religious leader/advisor). This is partly due to the relatively small local Muslim community in Ithaca, and in part due to a largely student Cornell Muslim community which has not had the experience and finances to establish a mosque. Thus, the student organization, Muslim Educational and Cultural Association (MECA) has fulfilled a dual role over the past several decades by attending to students’ needs and concerns as well as functioning as the de-facto local organization. Senior congregants have advised MECA over the years and have taken care of many necessary religious issues.
In the past 5 years, the numbers of incoming Muslim students, who have been born and raised in the United States, have increased and with ongoing American involvement in the Muslim world there have increasing demands for outreach educational programs.
The current student model of MECA and its associated volunteers are having trouble keeping up with these demands. The Ithaca/Muslim community clearly needs a full-time Muslim Chaplain who can fulfill three functions:
1. Minister to their religious needs, particularly from an American-Muslim perspective
2. Liaise with the university administration
3. Conduct multi-cultural and interfaith outreach/educational activities.
It may be noted that Cornell is one of the few major research institutions lacking a Muslim Chaplain, as many of its peer institutions (Yale, Princeton, Brown, Harvard, NYU, etc.) have already established chaplaincies, many funded by their university administrations. A Muslim Chaplaincy position at Cornell will go a long way in establishing a durable institutional framework for ministering the needs of Muslim students, and will also serve to attract high caliber Muslim students to Cornell. It may be noted that this proposal does not call for Cornell University to fund this position, but only a commitment by the university administration towards its institutional recognition and realization. This is necessary only because unlike other faith groups, there is no national Muslim organization that can depute and manage such Chaplaincy programs.
We, the undersigned students, alumni, faculty, and staff at Cornell University, both Muslim and non-Muslim, fully support this effort. We strongly urge Cornell University administration to take the steps necessary for the Chaplaincy position to be established as soon as possible.
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