46.069 - The High Cost of Secularism on the University in the Age of Pluralism

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium will explore the conundrums posed by an exclusively secular academy. While these conversations are long standing in philosophy, history, and political science, the field of higher education has been slow to engage the issues. The panel is collectively proposing that the academy limits itself and denies its fundamental commitment to pluralism by failing to seriously engage religious perspectives. Like most hegemonic imperatives, secularism escapes scrutiny by failing to be reflexive while dismissing religious knowledge. Panelists address a variety of examples: the persistence of vulnerable community college students, psychological research involving religious beliefs, the curtailment of campus religious organizations, the absence of attention to character development, and the failure to engage the big questions of the disciplines.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Religion and Education

Chair

• Mary Poplin, Claremont Graduate University

Papers

• God, Success, and Persistence: Community College African American and Latina/o Writing Students' Perceptions - Lourdes Villarreal, University of La Verne

• How the Pluralistic University Can Compensate for the Failure of the Secular University - Robert Osburn, University of Minnesota

• Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Assembly Versus Nondiscrimination and All Comers - Carol Swain, Vanderbilt University

• Shaping Students' Character, Not Just Their Minds - William H. Jeynes, California State University - Long Beach

• The Limitations of Secular Knowledge on the Interpretation of Research Involving Religious Phenomena - Mary Poplin, Claremont Graduate University

Discussant

• Barry Kanpol, Indiana University - Purdue University at Fort Wayne