Universities take the Christ out of Christmas
Diversity is a vital component of Christmas celebrations at universities, says Kathy Johnson Bowles, founder and principal consultant at Gordian Knot Consulting.
Though she admits that the effort to display other religious symbols is 'reactionary and problematic,' Bowles says the effort 'was beneficial.'
Diversity is a vital component of Christmas celebrations at universities, says Kathy Johnson Bowles, founder and principal consultant at Gordian Knot Consulting.
Bowles has more than 30 years of experience in higher education, and most recently wrote about her experience with holiday celebrations on college campuses, supporting multi-religious displays during the Christmas season.
During Bowles’ time as the museum director of Longwood University in Virginia, she was tasked with finding elements of other religious displays to incorporate on campus after “constituents” at the university took offense to a Christmas tree display in the institution’s historic building, known as the Rotunda.
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She asked herself, “Was it accurate or justifiable to equate Christmas (a major holiday for Christians) to a minor holiday for another religion by juxtaposing and placing the displays in the same context?”
Though she admits that the effort to display other religious symbols is “reactionary and problematic,” she says the effort “was beneficial,” citing that the “mission in higher education should always be about learning and understanding more—and that should include holidays, too.”
“By acknowledging various holidays and religious traditions, we learned something about each other,” she concluded.
Bowles’ experience is not an isolated incident.
Other examples of universities changing Christmas celebrations to be more inclusive include the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Cornell University, the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), and Columbia University.
Campus Reform reported that Ole Miss renamed its annual campus event “A Grand Ole Christmas” to “Hotty Toddy Holiday” to be more inclusive. The event was renamed after six years of university tradition.
Cornell believed that Christmas traditions like the mistletoe do not create an “environment of inclusion.”
“At Cornell University the beloved tradition of mistletoe is under attack, with the school claiming the parasitic plant, under which lovers are expected to kiss, doesn’t create an ‘environment of inclusion.’”
At the University of Tennessee Knoxville students were asked to exclude religious references during holiday parties.
Campus Reform also reported that a Columbia University professor called for the removal of the Rockefeller Christmas tree because it represents American “exceptionalism.”
Best efforts were made to contact Kathy Johnson Bowles for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
