New Marshall policy lets pagan students miss class on holidays
By TOM BREEN
Associated Press Writer
http://dailymail.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- When George Fain visits a grave on Thursday to mark a pagan holiday, she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classes at Marshall University in Huntington.
That's because her absence on the Samhain holiday has been approved by the school, which for the first time is recognizing pagan students' desire to be excused from class for religious holidays and festivals.
The university with an enrollment of about 14,000 may be the only school in the country to formally protect pagan students from being penalized by missing work that falls on religious holidays, although other schools have catchall policies they say protect students from every religious faith.
But as members of the eclectic group of faiths gathered under the term "pagan'' become more willing to publicly assert their beliefs, Fain suggests other schools may follow Marshall's example.
"I think we may have opened a door,'' Fain said. "Now that we know we can be protected, that the government will stand behind us and we feel safe, it's going to be more prevalent.''
The state's largest university, West Virginia University, does not have a policy specifically addressing pagan holidays.
The decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work from classes on holidays was simply an extension of existing university policy toward members of other religious groups, according to Marshall's Dean of Student Affairs Steve Hensley.
"I don't think there are a lot of students here who have those beliefs, but we want to respect them,'' Hensley said. "It was really just a matter of looking into it, and deciding what was the right thing.''
Although the university had considered adopting a calendar of specific pagan holidays on which excuses for absence would be granted, Hensley said he ultimately decided to adopt a case-by-case policy.
Students are responsible for establishing that they are religious believers and that the holiday in question is important to their respective tradition by filing a written request with Hensley. The university is aware of the potential for some students to falsely claim to be pagan in a bid to skip a midterm they haven't studied for.
"What we're trying to do is get at what students' core beliefs are,'' he said.
It's not easy to say whether Marshall is the only university with such a policy. Experts on paganism contacted for this story say they aren't aware of others. A call to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Some schools have catchall policies that allow students to be excused for any religious holiday. Such a policy has been formally in place at LeHigh University in Pennsylvania for about eight years, according to Lloyd Steffen, a professor of religion and the university's chaplain.
Such an accommodation for pagans is also rare in Britain, the birthplace of modern paganism.
"Nobody yet gets any holiday for pagan festivals in the United Kingdom. It seems to be an American original,'' said Ronald Hutton, a history professor at the University of Bristol in England.
By specifically including pagans, Marshall is taking an important step toward recognizing the validity of their beliefs, said Jason Pitzl-Waters, an authority on paganism who edits the Wild Hunt Web site from Milwaukee.
"That's part of the struggle for modern pagans,'' said Pitzl-Waters, a pagan. "Even though modern paganism has been in public since the 1950s, a lot of people still see it as a rebellious teenage activity, not necessarily something you do as a religious observance.'
That's starting to change, according to Helen Berger, a sociology professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
In particular, she cited the recent decision by the Department of Defense to agree to pagan requests that the five-pointed star -- sometimes called the pentacle -- be allowed on the gravestones of veterans in national cemeteries.
"That was a major win, and it's encouraged them to start looking for areas where they can gain the rights and recognition that other religions have,'' Berger said.
The term "pagan'' encompasses a diverse array of faiths who can include those seeking to reconstruct the forms of pre-Christian religious worship in Northern Europe to the better-known Wiccans, who draw largely on more recent sources.
"What binds us together isn't our theology, necessarily,
Putting a number on pagan believers in the United States can be difficult. Estimates range from 400,000 to 1 million. Part of the problem is that many believers may feel uncomfortable acknowledging a faith that is still regarded with suspicion.
Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall and adviser to a group of pagan students, said he's seen flyers advertising pagan meetings ripped down by others.
But actions like the university's decision on absences encourage pagans to be more vocal, he said.
"You'll have more people now who are willing to say, 'These are my beliefs,''' he said. "The American neopagan movement is a lot stronger than you think.''
AP-ES-10-31-
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