Students who want to pray, meditate or reflect during the school day can now do so thanks to a new reflection space in the Student Activity Center that will have its “soft run” Tuesday.
ASM Chair Katrina Morrison spearheaded the initiative when she realized that many of the conference rooms were not being utilized during the day. The SAC Governing Board voted in favor of it last year.
“The goal was to ensure that the SAC was being as accessible and inclusive as possible, so that people of all walks of life were able to do whatever they need to whenever they need to,” Morrison said.
Morrison talked with Ali Khan, former ASM Equity and Inclusion chair about the idea. As a Muslim student at UW-Madison, he found it difficult to find a space to pray and had to go into the stairway during the day to do so, she said.
“Being such a centrally located space, it was the least we could do to provide an opportunity for students who may want to reflect or pray during the day, to provide them with that space,” Morrison said.
Union South and College Library already have reflection spaces. Former SAC Governing Board Vice Chair Gina Showers met with the director of College Library to discuss what was and wasn’t working in the College Library reflection space and used this information when figuring out the guidelines.
SAC Governing Board Chair Nick Hall said the room is an electronic-free space and is not intended for sleeping, studying, or using the whiteboards.
“We’d be open to new suggestions or new ideas for the space coming forward,” Hall said.
After the “soft run,” the reflection space will be open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
