MEDITATION NEWS ITEM

Library of State College to House Meditation Area

WEDNESDAY, 16 APRIL 2008
Submitted By: Maricar Cinco

OREM - Utah Valley State College (UVSC)’s $48 million newly constructed library will have a nondenominational meditation area on the fifth floor. Val Hale, UVSC vice president for institutional advancement, says the room will serve as a sanctuary where people can go to meditate or pray.

However, naming the said meditation area is still under the fires of religious controversy. According to UVSC officials, they have not started the discussions on that matter and are uncertain of what to do in case a particular religion decides to donate and wants to name the space. As for the other rooms, funds ranging from $5,000 to $1 million generally come with the privilege of having the space named after the donor.

Library director Michael Freeman says he doubts UVSC would allow the area to be named after a religion. Public schools such as UVSC, he said, must be sensitive to the church and state separation. As of last week’s meeting, the UVSC Board of Trustees approved revisions to its policy and one major change was subjecting all named programs and physical entities to the approval of the college president and the trustees.

The meditation area will be about 800 square feet while the UVSC's new library will be 190,000 square feet. It would not include an altar or a pulpit as well as any particular religious icon. The entire library will be opened by July.

For more details on this news, please visit deseretnews.com.

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