A year ago today, if you wanted to find a room to pray, reflect, or meditate on campus, you may have consulted the campus map of prayer and reflection spaces. Unfortunately, due to the constant evolution of campus buildings, the map included rooms that no longer existed, listed incorrect open hours for some spaces, and lacked photos to help students visualize their options. There was no centralized informational hub to keep track of changes, communicate with site administrators, or help advertise new offerings.
Now, the Center for Interfaith Dialogue is trying to change that. Established in 2023, the Center continues to work on defining its role in supporting student religious and spiritual life. One of the Center’s first initiatives has been to take over administration of the map, including creating a video tour to help students learn about the variety of prayer and reflection spaces available.
Program Coordinator Talia Ivry explains the inspiration behind the project: “It’s important for us to increase awareness of the different religious and spiritual affiliations of students on our campus. This map essentially provides a catalog for students of the places on campus where they can take time to pray and reflect. Particularly for students who may need to pray throughout the day, it’s crucial they have opportunities to do so within the academic buildings and UW spaces on campus,” Ivry said.
While touring around campus to help make the video, Khadijah Dhoondia, a junior and president of the Islamic STEM Association, exclaimed, “I didn’t even know some of these spaces existed!”
Currently, there are fourteen designated spaces found across the university. As of last month, the map includes the exciting new addition to Union South, the foot-washing station in the 3rd floor bathroom (room 331), around the corner from the Reflection Room. Foot-washing stations are of particular significance to Muslim students, who may use them to perform ritual washing before prayers.
President of the UW-Madison Muslim Student Association Diyaa Manasrah added, “As Muslims, prayers are vital to us. They are the second of the five pillars of Islam, and we prioritize our five daily prayers in our everyday lives. These prayers are throughout the day, and as Muslims, we may have to step out of class and pray, sometimes in the middle of the street, or inside a random building. But having these prayer and reflection spaces means we can go to designated areas and pray with our friends, as well as have a safe and clean space to pray. It truly does mean a lot to me, as well as the Muslims all across campus who step into these spaces.”
While some students may use them several times a day, others may decide to stop in on a whim for a moment of rest and quiet reflection. Anyone can use the prayer and reflection spaces; as part of UW-Madison’s campus, they are nonspecific to any one religion or tradition.
seigen johnson, another staff member at the Center for Interfaith Dialogue, shared the importance of campus prayer and reflection spaces to her: “As an African-American woman, I am reminded that many of the spaces I enter carry the legacy of exclusion, hostility, and violence intended to prohibit access and reinforce a condition of inferiority for people like me. These prayer and reflection spaces within the community can be seen as an oasis for students, staff, faculty, visitors, and others to gather themselves and collect the internal resources needed to meet each moment of their day with compassion, composure, and grace.”
Watch the video tour on campus prayer and reflection spaces below. To find the full map of prayer and reflection spaces, click here.