Campus Conflicts

Here are examples of the kinds of issues Michigan faculty reported encountering in their classrooms and elsewhere.

• A faculty adviser was approached by a student who planned to major in one of the life sciences but wanted to be excused from taking a course on evolution because it contradicted his faith and his strong belief in creationism.
• In a field placement at a faith-based organization, a student became aware that her supervisors understood faith to be an integral part of their patient counseling. The student is from a different faith tradition and not particularly religious. Although she was open to responding to discussions about religion initiated by patients, she felt uncomfortable raising the topic herself as her mentors expected her to do. Their expectation conflicted with the student’s (and the university’s) sense of the boundaries of her academic work.
• A faculty member in a technical field is devout and reveals his own religious background to students on the first day of class. Many of the students write on their information sheets that one of their life goals is to develop a closer relationship with God. In a public forum on religion in his department, he asked whether it would be appropriate for him to suggest prayer to those struggling students who have revealed to him their own desire to connect to God.
• A student in a professional school did an excellent job of analyzing one aspect of professional practice for a class writing assignment. However, she ended her paper by asserting that her actions around this topic will be based on her religious convictions, not on her analysis.