Memorial Union Chapel

  • Author:
    n/a
  • Send To:
    Gregory Geoffroy, President of Iowa State University, and Richard Reynolds, Director of the Memorial Union
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We, the undersigned students, faculty, and staff at Iowa State University, express our strong support of renovating the Browsing Library Chapel in the Memorial Union. The chapel contains a prominent wooden cross, four pews engraved with a cross on both ends, and a stained glass panel with Christian and Jewish religious images.

Although the chapel was part of the Memorial Union when ISU acquired it in 2003, maintenance of the chapel constitutes an endorsement of, and preference for, Christianity and Judaism by Iowa State University. These are only two of thousands of religious traditions that exist.

This preference for Christianity and Judaism violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids publicly funded institutions from preferring or endorsing one religion over another, or religion over irreligion.

Our petition is not motivated by hostility toward religion, but rather by the principle that government institutions should not prefer or endorse one or a few religions over others. Furthermore, Iowa State University strives for diversity and inclusiveness, but maintaining the chapel is discriminatory and insensitive to many students who hold other religious or non-religious views.

Accordingly, we propose that the chapel be converted into a neutral reflection room that can be inclusive of ISU's diverse student population. This involves going beyond having a curtain that can be drawn to hide the cross and stained glass. We propose removal of all items that evoke a particular religion, which include the cross, the pews, the religious motifs in the stained glass, and the word chapel in any sign or reference to the room. Renovating the space as a reflection room where students may worship if they wish maintains the original intent of the architect W.T. Proudfoot while honoring ISU's commitment to diversity.

89 Signatures

  • Brandon Peters
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Cassidy Williams
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Genna Chadderdon
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Matthew D. Raymond
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Sophia M. Preston
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Kyle Bailey
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Alumnus
  • Yuzhu Zheng
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Mary Harvey
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Daniel Hand
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Victor Hugg
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Cory Schmitz
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Alumni
  • Jacqueline McGrew
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Warren J. Blumenfeld
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Faculty
  • Jacob I. Wilson
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student, Off Campus Senator, GSB
  • Thomas Vance
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Ben Mills
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Brian Eslinger
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • faculty
  • Michael William Aguilar
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Karen Kortegast
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • graduate student
  • Michael Benitez Jr.
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Keith Wilbur
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Vijay Kanagala
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Graduate Student
  • Adam Hinkeldey
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Alumni
  • Andrew Ryder
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Graduate Student, Alumnus
  • Katherine Rasing
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Alumni
  • Alissa R. King
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Contracted staff
  • Alexandria Davenport
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Nancy J. Evans
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • faculty
  • Heimir Geirsson
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • faculty
  • Cynthia Garrety
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • alum
  • Kelly Moeller
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Joel Geske
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Faculty
  • Nicholas RodrĐ“guez
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Susan Rappenwolf
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • staff
  • Brandon Fisel
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Graduate Student
  • Mitchell Olson
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Mark Slagell
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • staff
  • Brian Schaffner
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Elizabeth Mills
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Staff
  • Alissa Stoehr
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • alumni
  • Kevin Zimmerman
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Daniel Eshcol
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Logan Jaynes
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Kyle Bitterman
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Tasida Fisher
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • student
  • Teddy Sics
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Basil Mahayni
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Alum
  • Claudia M. Prado-Meza
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Fernando Aveiga
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • Student
  • Jean McGuire
    • Affiliation with ISU (type "student," "faculty," or "staff")
    • staff and student