When Mary Hudson helped form Student Pagan Information Relations and Learning nine years ago, she remembers, passersby would snicker and stare as the group performed rituals on the Quad. She said today students are more likely to quietly walk by and respect the ceremony.

‘This last fall, Samhain, which is one of our great days, students were coming out of their classes, and rather than the ruckus laughter, the pointing and ‘My god, what’s going on over there,’ the students were actually quieting themselves,’ she said.

Hudson, former IT director at the College of Human Ecology at Syracuse University and the adviser of SPIRAL, was recognized as the first pagan chaplain at Hendricks Chapel on Feb. 1. While tolerance of paganism grew on campus since SPIRAL was formed, Hudson said there is still work to be done, and she hopes to use her position to raise more awareness and eliminate stereotypes and stigmas.

‘There’s no reason for us to hide in the closest, and we do call it the broom closet,’ she said.

Mixed reactions arose since Hudson was recognized as a chaplain. Hudson herself has only received positive feedback, but there has been an online backlash in comments sections of articles about Hudson’s appointment. Other chaplains said it is too early to make a judgment about whether they agree with Hudson’s appointment. Pagan students said they are thrilled and that this is one step in the growing tolerance on campus. Christian students said they understand the need for a pagan chaplain.

While she has personally encountered support, Hudson said she has seen the negative comments in online articles about her appointment, including one that suggested she eats bats. Some others said her appointment will make SU look unattractive to potential students. But that was to be expected, Hudson said.

‘This is not what people are used to,’ she said. ‘Some people will never accept it. That’s OK. Others, maybe we can increase their awareness. They don’t have to accept or believe.’

Christian chaplains at Hendricks said they are waiting until they learn more about Hudson and paganism until they judge whether this is a positive step for the chapel. Linus DeSantis, the Roman Catholic chaplain, said he hopes to discuss Hudson’s beliefs with her and learn more.

As long as the pagan practice on campus does not turn disrespectful and irresponsible, DeSantis said, he has no religious objections to Hudson’s appointment.

Modern-day paganism is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of beliefs. A Wiccan, a Celtic and a Native American, among others, can all be considered pagan. The common thread among all these paths is a belief in the spirituality of nature. Pagans celebrate eight great days throughout the year that recognize the changing of the seasons as well as the midpoints between seasons.

Some pop culture stereotypes about pagans are rooted in fact but have been misconstrued. A cloak and a broomstick, for instance, are both part of some pagan rituals. The broomstick, made in colonial style, is a symbol of purification used to sweep negative energy out of a room. A cloak is worn to formalize a ritual, similar to wearing a suit to church.

Hudson expressed her concern about people not taking paganism seriously.

‘If it’s a matter of they believe it’s going to look bad for the university because there will be people in robes with scarves and pointy wizard hats with wands running all over campus, and – I think I read this some place – they’re going to issue wands and pointy hats to kids as they come in,’ Hudson said, ‘then they’ve read and they’ve watched too much ‘Harry Potter.”

Hudson is one of two pagan chaplains at universities in the United States, as far as she and the other chaplain, Cynthia Collins of the University of Southern Maine, know, they said.

Collins was appointed the pagan chaplain at USM in 2002. Her appointment was protested by both non-pagans who did not want paganism to be associated with a chaplaincy and pagans who thought the position was too much like ‘giving into the man,’ she said.

‘As recently as this past year, when a particular faith organization discovered that the pagans were funding the activities of their chaplain to help with the interfaith, they not only became very upset, but they started pulling money out of their back pockets and handing it to their chaplain,’ Collins said.

Hudson’s appointment has not been actively protested. Collins said two reasons for that may be regional differences in tolerance as well as a growing tolerance over time.

While Hendricks statistics only show 11 pagan undergraduate students, Hudson said she represents a larger constituency. On her e-mail listserv for SPIRAL, there are more than 100 students. The reason for the discrepancy is that many pagans may not have declared their religion to Hendricks, Hudson said.

Despite having the job for less than a month, Hudson has already started accomplishing her goal of raising awareness of paganism on campus. On Thursday, the moment she arrived at her office, there was a student waiting for her to learn more about paganism, and she said she has had similar experiences since people found out there is a pagan chaplain.

Another reason for the low number of pagans in Hendricks’ statistics is that many pagans choose to become so while at school, like Rachel Ousley, a senior broadcast journalism major and member of SPIRAL. Though she was interested in paganism since she was 10 years old, Ousley did not officially consider herself pagan until a year ago and said she is probably listed as Lutheran in Hendricks’ statistics.

Ousley did not know about SPIRAL until her senior year. She said she hopes Hudson’s position will allow students to get the guidance they need that she did not know was available until her last year on campus.

‘It’s kind of bitter for me because I would have had a much happier time at Syracuse if I had known as a freshman that there was a pagan group for me to go to and to have a community with and to learn with,’ Ousley said.

Adam Bernier, the president of the Campus Bible Fellowship, said although he does not agree with paganism, he does not care that a pagan chaplain has been appointed at Hendricks. While some Christians may be upset, Bernier said he understands that Hendricks in an interfaith chapel.

‘Do I agree with paganism? No, not at all,’ Bernier said. ‘But I’m not going to begrudge somebody else who believes what they want to believe. No one can judge man’s conscience but God.’

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Published on February 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm