During the holiday season, many students and faculty are celebrating Christmas with activities sponsored by Loyola organizations.
University Programming Board hosted a Christmas trivia night Wednesday, Dec. 9 in the Danna Student Center, and Montage Fine and Performing Arts series displayed “Christmas at Loyola: A Musical Celebration” Sunday, Dec. 6 in Holy Name of Jesus Church.
Meanwhile, student organizations such as Muslim Student Association and Jewish Student Association have put on their own events to increase the awareness of their culture and religion to the university during the Christmas season.
Other student organizations are using the holiday season as a transition phase to plan how to increase awareness and recruit new members. Zachary Turmelle, music industry junior and Jewish Student Association president, said that awareness of Judaism is important at a Jesuit institution.
“It can be hard at times to not have as much of an influence as other organizations on campus,” Turmelle said. “We want to let other students who are Jewish know we are here.”
Jewish Student Association held a “Dinner and a Movie” event in the Orleans Room on Wednesday, Dec. 9 where they screened the film “Everything is Illuminated,” starring Elijah Wood, and served Jewish food.
The film concentrates on a man’s quest to discover his relative’s whereabouts during World War II. Turmelle described the film as “light and heavy, but funny.”
Political science senior, Sophie Schaffer, celebrates Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, which are during September and October.
“You have to make it an obligation, and I’ve been making it one for 21 years to go to temple and celebrate the high holy days,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer said that she feels comfortable as a Jewish student attending a Jesuit university.
“I’ve never felt discriminated against (at Loyola),” Schaffer said. “The Jesuits never do either, they’re very accepting of other religions and that’s why I came here.”
Other students agree that Loyola has set a precedent for tolerance for other religions. Amna Aziz, biology senior and president of Muslim Student Association, said that Loyola is ahead of many other universities in terms of religious openness for other faiths.
MSA recently screened a movie at Tulane University to advocate Islam and perception of Muslims. The film, “Inside Islam: What A Billion Muslims Really Think,” focuses on issues such as gender justice, terrorism and democracy.
The six-year film process was conducted by Gallup, a polling organization, that interviewed thousands of people in 25 predominate Muslim nations, also including the U.S. and Europe.
“Loyola does cater to one of our biggest needs with the prayer room,” Aziz said. The prayer room, in the Danna Center basement, allows Muslim students a place to pray five times a day.
“Other universities don’t recognize a Muslim student association,” Aziz said. “Or they’d say ‘Yeah, you can have a group, but don’t use the word Muslim.'”
Aziz said that she has had professors exempt her from classes to celebrate Muslim holidays, much like official university holidays that over Christmas.
“I haven’t had any incidents of discrimination with people’s behavior towards me,” she said.
“I feel honored to be a part of Loyola.”
Jessica Burrola can be reached at [email protected]
