Senate Bill 07-08-34
| Bill ID: | 07-08-34 |
| Name: | Prayer at Commencement |
| Proposed: | 09/19/2005 |
| Sponsor: | Christopher Davis, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, A. James Clark School of Engineering |
| Proposal: | Dr. Davis sent a letter to Dr. Vincent Brannigan, the Chair of the Senate Human Relations Committee, on October 3, 2005 regarding the practice of the religious benediction at University Commencement ceremonies. He asked that the Human Relations Committee examine the appropriateness of the current practice of the inclusion of a religious benediction at University Commencement ceremonies. The proposal asserted that faith-based activities should not be included in University events with a secular purpose. |
| Active? | No |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 04/22/2009 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate |
| Received: | 2009-03-30 |
| Decision Date: | 2009-04-06 |
| Decision: | The Senate voted to approve the proposal. |
| Actions: | The Senate voted in favor of the proposal, and sent it to the President for review. |
| Next Step: | Presidential Approval |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2009-03-13 |
| Decision Date: | 2009-03-23 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to place the report on the April 6, 2009 Senate meeting agenda. |
| Actions: | During its review, the SEC asked the HRC whether it should consider changes to College commencements in addition to University commencement. HRC decided that wouldn't be appropriate at this time. After this issue was resolved, the SEC voted in favor of the item, and sent it to the Senate floor for review. |
| Next Step: | Senate Review |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Human Relations Committee |
| Received: | 2008-05-14 |
| Decision Date: | 2009-03-13 |
| Decision: | The Human Relations Committee voted to send its recommendations to the SEC for review. |
| Actions: | The HRC discussed the issue at length, and eventually concluded that a legal perspective was necessary in order to vote on the proposal. After conferring with the Office of Legal Affairs, the committee voted to send the item to the SEC for a second review. At the November 11, 2008 committee meeting, Chair Brown was tasked to write up a recommendation and submit it for approval. Following this, Chair Brown emailed the committee on December 8, 2008. He sent minutes from November and asked the committee to vote via email on a motion to recommend eliminating the prayer at commencement. Chair Brown's final report was sent to the SEC on March 13, 2009. |
| Next Step: | SEC Review |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2008-04-01 |
| Decision Date: | 2008-04-29 |
| Decision: | The SEC decided to discuss the item at the President's Breakfast on April 22, 2008, and made a final decision to return the proposal to HRC for review.. |
| Actions: | SEC discussed the charge on April 8, 2008, and after some deliberation, decided to add it to the agenda for the upcoming President's Breakfast on April 22, 2008. After the President's Breakfast, the SEC made a final decision to return the item to HRC for further committee review. |
| Next Step: | Human Relations Committee Review |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Human Relations Committee |
| Received: | 2005-10-03 |
| Decision Date: | 2008-03-19 |
| Decision: | The Human Relations Committee voted to recommend replacing the two minute invocation with a moment of silence for one minute and one minute of spoken word. |
| Actions: | At its April 20, 2006 meeting, the Human Relations Committee discussed concerns expressed by the campus community regarding the use of prayer at the campus-wide commencement ceremonies. At issue was the fact that non-religious attendees may be offended by religious nature of the invocation. The committee continued discussion of this item over the course of the Spring 2006 term and into the 2007 - 2008 year. Its work included a consideration of the legal issues surrounding the use of prayer, gauging of the opinions of members of the campus body and meeting with both Christian (Father William Bryne) and Jewish (Rabbi Ari Israel) campus spiritual leaders to learn more about the practice of invocations during ceremonies. At a February 21, 2007 meeting, the committee ultimately voted 6-1 to replace the current practice of a two minute invocation with a split one minute of silence and one minute of benediction. In subsequent meetings over the Spring 2007 term, the committee reviewed the language of invocations and subsequently include the recommendation that the word "amen" be removed from the language and an alternate word be used that does not have a religious connotation. Due to other charges, the committee was unable to discuss the charge during Fall 2007. |
| Next Step: | SEC Review |
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