By Hannah Davis
The Meditation Room, located in COM 309, has gained popularity since it opened in the fall of 2010.
“It’s the third year we’ve had it here on campus,” said Mindy Kinnaman, manager of Student Life and Leadership Development. “Every semester we have more and more people using it. This semester it really has gone up in terms of people who are using it and so we’re just hopeful more and more people do.”
The room was developed after Christian and Muslim students consistently asked for private spaces to pray.
“We had, for many, many years prior to [the meditation room], the request from students for space, a room, whether it be a classroom or an office or a conference room, from our Christian groups to find a place to pray, and from our Muslim students for a place to pray,” said Pam Vassar, assistant dean, Student Life. “And in both cases, those groups would request multiple times a day, sometimes multiple days during the week […] it just made it really hard and most of the time we were not able to accommodate people’s requests.”
This left many individuals and groups praying in the hallways. At this same time, remodeling on the third floor of the COM building was taking place. The Meditation Room was originally pegged as a storage closet.
“At some point we said, ‘Wait a minute, maybe we could utilize that space,’” Vassar said. “It’s not large, but it’s certainly much more private.”
Vassar began research, and discovered the idea of a meditation room.
“We started getting requests from students also, we had the request for prayer, then space for meditation, space for students to just have a place to go, for lack of a better word, for downtime,” Vassar said.
They changed plans during construction and painted the room a light blue color. It has two light settings: one for bright light and one for dim light. Each wall is labeled directionally for Muslim students who must pray toward the direction of Mecca.
“[The Meditation Room] is not directed toward any one person,” Kinnaman said. “It’s open to everyone, so if somebody wants to come in and just have a quiet space to sit for a little bit, if somebody wants to actually meditate, if somebody wants to pray, it doesn’t matter what it is, they’re welcome to use this space.”
The Mediation Room is open from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday.
Contact Hannah Davis, news editor, at hdavis18@jccc.edu.