On Friday, the religious studies program at Grand Valley State University teamed up with the Kaufman Interfaith Institute to coordinate an on-campus celebration for the first-ever celebration of Holi, a Hindu celebration that welcomes spring by having participants throw colored powder and water on each other. Though attendees came away from the event covered in festive, colored powder, they also came away with a new level of religious curiosity and understanding, thanks to the educational aspect of the event.

The Lanthorn commends the religious studies program and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute for bringing this celebration to campus.

Events celebrating religious beliefs that students at GVSU might not be as familiar with are crucial to helping students obtain a liberal education, a broader worldview and a tolerance for other religions. Learning about cultures other than their own is an important part of a full college experience. By helping to students to celebrate Holi, the religious studies department helped students to experience something outside of their comfortable lives and familiar traditions.

Tolerance and acceptance are built on the bricks of understanding, and this sort of event helps students to celebrate the beauty of interfaith collaboration.

As we become a more global and communicative society, it becomes more and more important to be accommodating and knowledgable about other cultures and religions. Whether students end up traveling for a job or conference-calling with people from around the world, having an understanding of the similarities in religion and culture will be not only beneficial but necessary. By introducing GVSU students to this diversity, the Holi festival helped to prepare them for participating in a global society.

By building tolerance for religious diversity, we also help to build a climate on campus that is more inclusive and welcoming of other religions. This can help GVSU move toward being a diverse campus where people feel comfortable and proud to share their religion with others, without the fear of rejection or hate.

Late last month, GVSU’s University Communications hosted an Easter egg hunt that, yes, all students, regardless of religious identity, could take part in, but the Christian-centric celebration felt exclusionary to many, particularly because two other major non-Christian religious holidays occurred that same week. With events like a university-sponsored Easter egg hunt, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to the religious minorities that are cast to the side while the majority celebrates.

Students have been speaking up about the need for religious diversity on campus, and it seems as if at least parts of GVSU are listening.

As GVSU continues to become a more diverse place, events like the religious studies department’s Holi festival should become the norm, rather than the exception for campus celebrations.