Ailya Vajid has kept busy since arriving on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter, Minn., last fall. She launched a new Muslim student association, regular Friday prayers and an "Ask a Muslim" panel.
The liberal-arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) might seem like an unlikely workplace for Vajid, its new Harvard Divinity School-educated Muslim spiritual adviser. But campus leaders say Vajid will play a key role both in supporting its growing Muslim student body and sparking eye-opening conversations about faith.
Gustavus is sharing Vajid with St. Paul's Macalester and Northfield's Carleton colleges. Meanwhile, Minneapolis-based Augsburg College, another ELCA school, also hired a Muslim spiritual adviser last fall.
"College students are at a stage of life when they are asking the big questions and trying to figure out where their faith fits in," said Vajid, a California native whose official title at Gustavus is multifaith adviser.
The 2,400-student school serves about 25 Muslims, a combination of international students and Americans of immigrant descent. It is building a new multifaith center on campus.
"We really feel it's important for our college to support the faith practices and faith journeys of all of our students, and that includes our Muslim students," said Siri Erickson, the campus chaplain.
Besides counseling students at a time of ever-more-heated political rhetoric about Islam, Vajid's job is to dispel misconceptions about the religion. Along with experience in a similar position at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Vajid brought a "beautiful mixture" of a gentle personality and major smarts, Erickson said.
"Ailya has a warm and welcoming presence," she said. "Our students are really happy to have her around."
