Saturday, January 24, 2015

There's Not Much That's "Multi" About the U of T Robarts Library's "Multi-Fath Room"

According to the University of Toronto website, the Robarts Library is one of nine sites on campus set aside for students belonging to different faiths who would like a quiet, convenient spot in which to pray or mediate. The Robarts "Multi-Faith" room is #7 on the list. It is
located on the 8th Floor of Robarts Library. The room is open for quiet mediation, prayer and other spiritual practices. Study spaces are available in other parts of the library. Food and drink are not permitted in this room.
Here's the photo of the room that's provided:

Web Updates

The thing is that, according to someone I know very well who works at the Robarts Library, this space serves more of a "Uni-faith" role in that it pretty much has been turned into a Muslim prayer room/mosque.

What was that cheeky line of SDA's Kate again? Oh yeah--the opposite of diversity is university. And a "Uni-faith" (formerly a "Multi-faith") room at a university is nothing if not an expression of that.

Update: The Robarts Library prayer space is apparently one of the newer ones on campus. According to an almost two-year old article that appeared in The Varsity, the campus rag,
The newly-renovated space will be an inclusive area for students of all faiths to pray, no matter what religion or practice they adhere to. A draft of guidelines is being formulated in collaboration with the Multi-Faith Centre for different groups to be able to use the space at the same time.
Funny that it hasn't exactly worked out that way.

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