As a first-year student at Georgetown University, Abhichana Naiyapatana went to the Jesuit Values Panel, a discussion held by the school’s campus chaplains. The chaplains represented “all major religious traditions,” the moderator said.
But Naiyapatana’s faith wasn’t represented. She’s a Buddhist student from Thailand.
“Georgetown boasts its diverse chaplaincy,” she says. But “I was like, ‘Wait, where is Buddhism?’”
She wrote an article in her campus newspaper about the experience, hoping it would help the university raise funds and awareness to hire a Buddhist chaplain.
“College is a stressful time,” Naiyapatana says. “You really want to find someone to talk to about spirituality or dealing with loss or all the issues therapy might not be able to address on the spiritual side of things. … Having a chaplain that represents your faith tradition really, really helps.”
Naiyapatana developed relationships with other campus chaplains, but she missed having conversations couched in her own religious terms and scriptures. She went to a Thai Buddhist temple an hour away once, but “it was a lot of work” for guidance other students could find on campus.
Religious minority communities are growing on American college campuses, but they’re still less likely to have their own campus chaplains.
