{"id":40977,"date":"2017-02-24T14:47:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T09:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=40977"},"modified":"2017-02-24T14:47:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T09:17:43","slug":"hindus-concerned-fate-hindu-prayer-room-iowas-grinnell-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=40977","title":{"rendered":"Hindus concerned about fate of \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d in Iowa\u2019s Grinnell College"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Because of significant physical changes and construction projects at Grinnell College Iowa, Hindus are worried about the fate of existing dedicated \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d with 24-hour access.<br \/>\nDistinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, urged College President Dr. Raynard S. Kington and Trustees Chair Patricia Finkelman to ensure that spirituality and worship services of the Hindu students were not affected during this transition period.<br \/>\nZed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that if murti of Lord Ganesha, reportedly installed by a priest in the existing \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d, was moved to a new \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d; administration should provide assistance to the college Hindu students group to reinstall it with proper ancient rituals by a priest.<br \/>\nMoreover, they expected the new \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d be of the same (or bigger) size as the existing one, as it was one of the attractions for Hindu students to come to Grinnell, Rajan Zed noted. \u201cThe Scarlet &amp; Black\u201d, student newspaper of Grinnell, in a news posted on February 17, however, wrote: \u201c&#8230;the new building will feature a significant reduction in size of the Hindu Cultural Suite&#8230;\u201d.<br \/>\nZed hoped that Grinnell would continue to recognize the intersection of spirituality and education and respond to the spiritual needs of Hindu students. Dedicated Hindu prayer\/meditation room for rituals, quiet reflection, festivals and spiritual exercise helped in the personal growth of Hindu students.<br \/>\nLocated in the \u201cCenter for Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice\u201d (CRSSJ), which is relocating; the existing \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d is reportedly accessible to students from eight am to <span data-term=\"goog_1074910032\">12 midnight<\/span> every day when the College is in session, but by request, a student can have 24-hour access using their student ID to enter the building.<br \/>\nMeanwhile, Debra Lukehart, Vice President for Communications of Grinnell College, in an email response to Rajan Zed, wrote: \u201c\u2026transition plans have not yet been finalized\u2026. The Hindu Prayer Room that is currently housed in the CRSSJ facility will necessarily move this summer\u2026, but we expect a dedicated space will be identified.\u201d<br \/>\nGrinnell College, founded in 1846 as a Congregationalist college, which claims to offer \u201cworld-class education\u201d, consistently ranked among the nation\u2019s best liberal arts colleges. With about 1,600 students, it offers 39 majors and concentrations with over 500 course offerings. It claims \u201cstrong commitment to social responsibility\u201d and its library contains about one million books and documents.<br \/>\nHinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because of significant physical changes and construction projects at Grinnell College Iowa, Hindus are worried about the fate of existing dedicated \u201cHindu Prayer Room\u201d with 24-hour access. Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, urged College President Dr. Raynard S. Kington and Trustees Chair Patricia Finkelman to ensure that spirituality and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}