College Campus Christmas Trees?

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Oct 15, 2007

One of the most heated debates at U.S. public college and university campuses is whether Christmas trees and other secular symbols such as Santa Claus and wreaths ought to be displayed. Read about the controversy here:

Christmas Trees on College Campuses

This issue is so often presented in black-or-white terms, but this strikes me as an issue that would benefit from a bit of compromise.

Here's an idea: why not give religious groups on campus (Christians, Jews, Muslims, and any other group with a population on campus, including atheists) a large public spot on campus to decorate as they choose? In their space, they could display whatever they want--religious symbols, cultural symbols, secular decorations, and anything else as long as nothing hostile about another group is included.

These spaces could be used year round, not just during November and December, which potentially could have quite a bit of educational value. Most Americans don't know much about holidays that aren't Christian, so this could be a way of teaching students about Muslim holidays such as Ramadan and Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah (and anything other than Hanukkah, which is by no means the most religiously significant Jewish holiday). And Christians on campus could get a chance to educate students about their religion and customs as well and perhaps break down misconceptions.

Would this work? Certainly there would be some issues. Groups might fight over how much space they are allocated and where. Sadly, vandalism is a possibility, especially when it comes to Muslim displays. Perhaps campus police would have to be responsible for close monitoring. But problems or not, it seems to me that creative solutions like this could be very educational. Students would be able to display religious symbols on campus without any one religion being dominant.