A student recently made a post in our community open forum asking if anyone knew of a good space for religious students to pray during the day between classes. 

He received many great recommendations, ranging from quiet private study rooms in the library, quiet empty spaces in our multi-cultural center, and empty spaces in our yoga room at the wellness center.

These suggestions weren’t good enough for him though, and he’s now demanding that our college put up the resources to build a special prayer room. 

I was the only person to comment against the room, and I said “Why can’t you use the room-booking system that already exists to guarantee yourself empty space on campus? Why do we have to build a new space for you when spaces already exist, regardless of what you plan to use it for?” 

This comment hasn’t gone over well with a few of my religious friends, but if they keep pushing for this room I do plan to keep speaking against it. We’re a public state school operating on extremely limited federal funds as it is.