Awesome! I love this place! Love everything! Great kitchen area! Everything smiley! Nice staff and manager! (Thanks!) Been waiting so long. Love that new smell! Very beautiful and homey – love it! Our second home! Wow!
I’m reading off a whiteboard we’ve left out for comments during the first two months since moving in.
There have also been many magic moments – like when Lisa was showing a female Muslim student the new prayer rooms – when Lisa opened the door, she just stood there and wept in gratitude for how her religious needs had been recognized.
Like the day I had three lunches!
Three women students from Bangladesh cooked us one of their typical cultural dishes to say ‘thanks’ to Oasis. Then I was invited to share homemade Roti and vegetables with a student we have been helping to break his coffee addiction, linked to the pressure he feels about his studies. Then my turn, providing a lunch of rice and vegetables for a group of visiting Indians who work with the poor in Kolcuta, hosted by the School of Education.
Mr Mukerji (left) with Oasis Muslim Chaplain, Dr Farooque, who was born in Kolcuta
As we were eating I pointed out to Mr Mukerji, who had worked closely with Mother Theresa, a little moment that was happening. The anxious body language of a new young female student from East Africa attracted the attention of the Indian man who had brought me lunch to share. He moved over and sat next to her and began a healing conversation to help her feel more at home – a Hindu encouraging a Muslim! Later in the day a Cambodian student showed her where she could get help from the Student Learning Centre. These are the magic moments of Oasis in action!
But the Oasis culture of hospitality not only provides a nurturing context for student-to-student support, but also for student initiatives.
In January, a small group of International students, got together to think about how they could begin to solve a big problem for international students – learning colloquial Australian language and understanding Australian culture. The university is quite good at teaching the technical language of each field of study, but it’s the vernacular that seems to create the most difficulty in everyday conversation, and particularly when students have to undertake external ‘placements’.
They talked with International Student Support who then connected with Oasis and soon a new ‘Club’ was formed, Cultural Connections, finding a home in Oasis. They are in the process of linking international students, on a one-to-one basis, with ‘local’ volunteers.
In a recent email, Henry from Cultural Conversations wrote:
…we have got much more international students signing up for our program. So we have to work even harder to get more volunteers and do the interviews and matching, which are a huge work load for our team.
Can I get support from you in the following issues:
Share our volunteer recruitment information to staff members and students in our school. (see flyers attached)
Link one or two social work students to our program so that they can involve in our marketing, interviewing, matching and evaluation process.
Discuss plans and strategies for future development of our program.
If you’d like to be a ‘local’ volunteer, let us know!
Alan Larkin, Oasis Team member, and some of the Oasis Social Work students.
A four year conversation with the School of Social Work about international social work student issues has now resulted in five Masters of Social Work students undertaking their placement in Oasis, supervised by a member of Social Work staff. These students are making a big impact within Oasis and are potential supporters of Cultural Conversations and other initiatives.
In the meantime, Verity Kingsmill in Careers has been dreaming of a Cultural Café that encourages local students to broaden their cultural horizons by engaging with international students – they will, after all, graduate into a global market!
Hence the potential that these two ‘dreams’ could come together from opposite directions – the need of international students to understand local culture and its language, and the needs of local students to experience other cultures.
At the same time, Oasis Team member Alan Larkin has been talking with Rotary International, which has a long track record of support for international students and perhaps, being a service organisation, might provide further inter-cultural opportunities for Flinders postgraduate students.
If you would like to find out more about supporting ‘Cultural Conversations’, look for cultualconnections.flinders on Facebook, or email culturalconnections.flinders@gmail.com
Or to follow or support any of these intercultural developments, contact Oasis.
Looking back to when I arrived at Flinders as its Uniting Church chaplain in the late 1990’s, I can now identify some of the dynamics at play that would eventually lead to the formation of Oasis – inconceivable at the time!
The context was the university – a ground for open-ended research and innovation; and in particular, a Religious Centre, which had become identified with a Christianity seemingly intent on marginalizing itself by disconnection to the mission of the university.
A significant social context was the increasing recognition of cultural and religious diversity, the two inextricably bound, which seemed to threaten a conservative church and a conservative politics, but seen as an opportunity by the university.
Chaplains at Flinders were caught between these two loyalties – the church and its conservative religio-cultural exclusions, and the university, with its progressive intent on cultural inclusion, averse to discrimination and sectarianism.
It is to the credit of the Uniting Church, with its more open theology – its metaphor of journey with God and possibility of inclusion, that I was able to explore a solution to this standoff.
It began by inviting Religious Centre chaplaincy representation by representatives of world religions and, for me, the clarification of a key question for exploration: ‘How are we all going to live together?’
Weekly shared lunches brought us together, friendships formed, and chaplaincy began to express itself as ‘multifaith’ – cemented in working together on a national conference for university chaplains in 2003 and a refurbishment of the Religious Centre to reflect the new pluralist reality.
Later, we were able to identify the ancient practice of hospitality as the most significant impetus in our move toward multifaith – and the key practice to enact chaplaincy itself. I was able to document this journey in my book ‘An Improbable Feast – the surprising dynamic of hospitality at the heart of multifaith chaplaincy’, published in 2010.
Unwittingly, in achieving multifaith chaplaincy through hospitality we had also discovered ‘interfaith’!
‘Multi-‘ recognizes diversity, but it is not a sufficient basis for living together. We can recognize each other’s right to exist, but live in ghettos! ‘Inter-‘ describes what happens between. It is the glue of social cohesion and a key element in a society’s wellbeing – how we mix.
Oasis, launched in 2008, and embraced formally by the university in 2013, is about ‘inter-‘. It recognizes the diversity of cultures and religions, but is intent on developing a model and a language to respond to the question of our time: ‘how are we all going to live together?’
All praise to the architects, the various building and engineering firms and their workers and to Buildings and Property for a great achievement!
In this first week of the academic year a steady stream of visitors has been checking out the ‘new Oasis’; and returnees, who have been patiently waiting for the refurbishment to be completed, have been welcomed back.
I noticed how the new kitchen table has become a lunchtime focus for some returnees – they told us how homely the kitchen is – just what we had hoped! Already students and staff are talking about cooking to share and a sharing of cooking knowledge. We just have to test out the fire alarms for heat, steam and smoke detection first! Harmony Day on Monday March 21 will probably put the kitchen to the test as we share a lunch of different cultural dishes.
The impact of closing the Quiet Space door behind me for the first time really surprised me – almost total silence! I noticed yesterday morning that three students slipped in to the Quiet Space at different times for meditation. Earlier, one student had taken a catnap on the couch. By good fortune, probably more than planning, the Quiet Space can easily be accessed from the stairwell or lift entrance without having to engage with others in the centre. You can just slip in and out anonymously. Augurs well for stress release. After the pergola outside is re-roofed, we will establish a ‘green’ wall outside its windows.
Similarly, my office, the only place for a closed-door conversation, has an external sliding door. So, the chances of anonymity for confidential conversations, entering directly from the garden outside, is a real bonus!
The Lounge meeting space with the white-board wall is already well and truly in use; students, staff and the Oasis Team have all been using the space to engage in planning. This area will be delineated from the opposite side of the Lounge with a bookshelf which will be set up to define a reading nook when a remaining couch arrives.
On Tuesday night the FES club filled the Common Room with 80 students sitting at tables, slow cookers and rice cookers in full swing in the kitchen. Glowing thanks from all!
Gradually Muslim students are discovering the Prayer Rooms. We have been asking them what they think of them and the answers have been in the ‘impressive’ range. When Lisa opened the door to show one woman the female prayer room she wept in gratitude! We look forward to an impasse between demands of the leadership of the Flinders University Muslim Association and the University’s provision of prayer space in Oasis being resolved and the Oasis Common Room fulfilling its planned function of being used for Friday Prayer.
Today, regular student users of Oasis were given training on the use of the impressive audio-visual equipment installed in Oasis. There are still some bugs to sort out, but the potential is outstanding!
On top of all this we have welcomed new students, some overwhelmed by culture shock or the complexity of finding one’s way in the university. Members of the Oasis team and Oasis ‘regulars’ have provided gentle assurance. The word seems to be getting around that Oasis can be counted on for emotional support.
Exciting New Intercultural Initiatives
Through our networking over the last few years, a number of initiatives for mutual collaboration are coming together in Oasis:
Supported by Klaus Koefer (International Student Support), Social Work student Henry Liu has formed a new FUSA club – ‘Cultural Connections’ – bringing international students together with locals to share cross-cultural experiences, and particularly to develop mastery of local language idioms.
Verity Kingsmill has been toying with using Oasis to assist local students develop cultural intelligence before graduation – the flip side of Henry’s initiative – in a project she is calling ‘Cultural Conversations’.
Social Work are exploring a new model of field placement for Masters of Social Work students that would see Flinders itself, through Oasis, become an agency for field placement. Called ‘The Intercultural Field Education Project’, funding has been obtained to provide a dedicated Social Work supervisor for five students working on University projects out of Oasis. These projects (500 hours per student) could support Cultural Connections and Cultural Conversations.
Oasis Team member Alan Larkin, formerly Director of International Education at Flinders, is exploring connections between Oasis and Rotary International. Rotary have a long and impressive track record of supporting international students.
This collaboration illustrates the catalytic role Oasis is playing on top of its traditional pastoral role, across different parts of the University – in this case, FUSA, International Student Support, Careers, the Academy and the Community. These stakeholders are going to meet monthly; Assoc. Prof. Carol Irizarry is the Convenor.
Wellbeing
In continuing to refine the Oasis Vision statement over the last three years I have interviewed various staff across the campus who are engaged in research or have a stated role supporting ‘well being’.
When a research group under the leadership of Prof. Phillip Slee, Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv), announced their inaugural international conference, to be held at Tonsley in July, 2016, I was able to connect other Flinders staff from diverse areas into their conference planning. As a result the program and scope of the conference has been strengthened and broadened. Oasis will play an important role as conference ‘connectors’, adding social value to the conference. http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/swapv-conference-2016/
In addition, Oasis is organizing a post-conference add-on, ‘Saturday at Oasis’, immediately after the SWAPv conference, also inviting participants of the concurrent Global Conference of University Chaplains, being held in Bendigo. Oasis will invite a number of local ‘leading lights’ to provide dialogical input into open-space conversations, reflections and action-plans.
Oasis Team Development
Ben Smith from Flinders Health and Counseling is joining the Oasis Team at our weekly team meetings with a view to developing tailored professional skills development for the team.
The morning of the second Tuesday of the month has been set aside as team building time. Our first guest will be Dr Steve Parker, Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning), School of Nursing & Midwifery, to assist Oasis with web-based applications for communication and organization.
Oasis Reference Group
I am in the process of setting up a reference group of Oasis stakeholders to act as a sounding board for strategic Oasis issues. This will essentially replace a previous set of mentors from outside the University who supported me during my time as Uniting Church chaplain. I expect it will meet twice each semester, with a more extended meeting in the long break.
A Sharing Economy
In keeping with values associated with hospitality, Oasis has adopted a non-commercial position with what it offers – ‘No money changes hands in Oasis’. Oasis encourages those who have done well in life to ‘give back’ – to invest in our students and to invest in creating a culture of goodwill, kindness and compassion. This is in keeping with attitudes of hospitality to the stranger found in ancient, traditional religions – the ‘Golden Rule’, for example.
This paradigm is extended to those who use Oasis – Oasis adopts a position of enabling others to fulfill their own mandates in creative ways in concert with others, with a view toward fostering wellbeing and human flourishing. Networking and collaboration are intrinsic to the Oasis ‘sharing economy’ culture. In the process, a sense of community and care is built.
What a messy looking diagram! But its the first step for me to get on paper where I think Oasis has been going in 2015 and is heading in 2016 . So here goes the much needed explanation!
Embracing Oasis within the university structures in late 2012, the university appointed an Oasis Chaplaincy Coordinator (OCC), responsible for the strategic development of Oasis (‘direction’) and an Oasis Administrative Officer (OAO), responsible for support of the centre itself (‘support’). I have placed them, as university employees, in the centre.
Their immediate role is the direction and support of the Oasis Team, comprising the Oasis Chaplaincy Coordinator, the Oasis Administrative Officer and a number of volunteers (presently twelve), together providing spiritual care to students and staff of the university. They work together as an ‘agile’ team, a ‘scrum’, with the Oasis Chaplaincy Coordinator acting as ‘Scrum Master’. They meet weekly. Team members act autonomously in accordance with agreed principles and values.
Over the past three years of its life we have noticed that there is a disparate group of students who have made Oasis their home and spontaneously offer leadership in hospitality among their peers within Oasis. Some of these we have nominated as Oasis Ambassadors as they return to their home countries taking with them their transforming experiences of hospitality and inclusion. These students become an informal extension of the Oasis Team.
Similarly, there are members of the wider community who support the vision of Oasis but are not able to commit time to be on campus as part of the team. These we have called ‘Associates’; they include religious leaders who respond to requests to support the spiritual needs of specific students, act as religious representatives at official functions or give expert advice on request. This layer also includes a number of external mentors to the Oasis Coordinating Chaplain and some members of the team.
These student and community leaders together form the third layer in the sociogram, offering both input and output in support of the Oasis vision.
Beyond them are the ‘Friends’ – perhaps distant from the day to day goings on in Oasis, but committed to aspects of the Oasis vision. They include community leaders, members of religious communities and members of the University. This group is the focus for the bi-annual ‘Oasis Celebrations’ that aim to provide a feel for the values and style of Oasis and importantly, offer a friendly opportunity for networking.
Beyond the ‘Friends’ are University stakeholders and potential stakeholders in Oasis. Inviting their collaboration is a means of embedding Oasis in the university as a university asset, and if possible avoid Oasis becoming its own ‘silo’.
For example, Oasis has a long and consistent history of collaboration with International Student Support. Oasis is an essential part of their operation. Just as Oasis has contributed to International Student Support, so they have also contributed to Oasis. Mutually strong bonds between us have contributed to solving some very tricky student situations together.
During 2015, a number of other possible collaborations have been simmering and will begin to find expression in the renovated Oasis in 2016. Oasis is likely to become a focus for encouraging academics across disciplines in their research on ‘well being’.
Health and Counselling have agreed to release one of their staff for half a day per week to sit in on Oasis Team meetings, to formulate and conduct professional skills development for the team. This strengthens the relationship between Oasis and Health and Counselling, opening fresh opportunities for health and well being initiatives on campus.
In a similar way, the University and Oasis could benefit by the engagement of a research officer to gather data about the effectiveness of Oasis, rather than Oasis feeling the need to have to justify itself. In addition it would be helpful if a member of the Office of Communication and Engagement were to be formally appointed, to collect and communicate stories from within Oasis and link with OCE to assist with the organisation of university-wide events. In this way, Oasis may avoid becoming its own self-promoting silo.
All these university stakeholders in the outer layer might form the backbone of an Oasis Advisory Group, which might report to a senior committee like the University’s Executive Committee bi-annually.
The overall picture is meant to represent a diverse, multi-layered, cross-disciplinary scrum, moving through short and ever evolving iterations toward enhancing the well being of the university and its spiritual life, and contributing its experience to the wider community.
I wouldn’t have thought that a radio program about the gaming industry, ‘Fan Culture and Co-creation’, would have much relevance to what we are doing in Oasis, would you?
But I tuned in because I was interested in what might be said about ‘co-creation’.
The program explored issues about video-gaming: a shift from video games being produced by corporations for consumers, toward video-gamers becoming fans and wanting to get involved, extending the games they love; and in the process, providing unpaid-for feedback and new ideas to the corporates – co-creation – a shift from consumers to co-owners.
This is an interesting concept for a university.
Twenty years ago, the mindset of the corporates was ‘play this game!’ Now it is ‘play – create – share’. By giving access to creation and outlets for gamers to share their ideas in extending their games, corporates have extended ownership of their products by encouraging participation beyond that of being mere consumers. Through this participation, they are creating new worlds.
Creating new worlds is what Oasis is also about. As we listen to others, we are helping them sort out their worlds. By stepping away from imposing our world, we empower them to imagine renewal of theirs. This is what spiritual care to others is all about.
In 1978 a biblical scholar by the name of Walter Brueggemann burst on to the scene with a book called ‘The Prophetic Imagination’. Brueggemann’s achievement was based on an appreciation that all social and political structures are constructed – and if constructed, they can be reconstructed. The Biblical material he turned to pertained to the destruction of the first Jewish Temple (‘Solomon’s Temple) in 587 BCE Jewish. It was commonly thought that JWH (‘God’) resided in the Temple. And even today, Jews pray at what remains after the destruction – The Western (‘Wailing’) Wall.
The Babylonian invaders took the Jewish elite into exile in Babylonia. Now the Jews had a deep theological problem. If JWH was supreme, how could JWH let the Babylonians do this? Could JWH be dead?
What Brueggemann contributes is the insight that imagination is fundamental to how we structure our lived realities – our worlds are constantly being construed, and if so, can be reconstrued.
As I proposed in my book ‘An Improbable Feast’, the response of the West to the events of 9/11 and subsequent attacks, is one of protectionism. ‘Risk –aversion’ is now entrenched in the Western mindset. Applying Brueggemann, these responses to a changed situation are the result of imagination.
On the other hand, a group of us at Flinders was proposing a different construal of our lived reality – the recovery of hospitality as a primary practice in the survival of civilisations.
Oasis became our vehicle for demonstrating and promulgating a re-imagination of the ‘surprising dynamic of hospitality’, necessary for people of difference to co-exist harmoniously.
Back to parallels between the construal of Oasis and those of the gaming industry brought out by the radio program on fan culture and co-creation…
Oasis offers hospitality, promotes well-being and fosters inclusive spirituality – inspiring a culture of care at Flinders University and in the wider community.
Oasis does this by providing a safe, inclusive drop-in centre, facilitated by a team of volunteers who enable interpersonal, intercultural and interfaith respect and understanding.
In this friendly, informal environment, students can meet, make connections, find friendship and support and create initiatives in the spirit of Oasis.
Oasis also supports initiatives by staff, hosting inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural, and inter-religious endeavor.
Oasis also offers its experiences of innovation and transformation to the wider local, national and international community.
Background
Over the last three years the primary task of the Oasis Coordinating Chaplain has been to guide the transformation of the former Religious Centre, home for religion and religious clubs and societies on campus, into an interfaith centre, inclusive of the spiritualities of all, and an asset to the well being of the university and wider community.
The means of transformation has been the practice of a particular understanding of hospitality – the making of space for the other. A team of volunteers, inclusive of chaplains appointed by religious communities but not limited to them, enacts pastoral care directed toward the well being of the University without discrimination.
2015 Activities
Oasis (Bedford Pk)
Bookings for formal meetings were deliberately restricted during 2015 to make space for informal student socializing, given the lack of such spaces during the Hub development.
In particular, lunch between 12 and 2 became very popular, particularly for international students. Significant supportive interactions occurred between students themselves and with members of the Oasis team. Several students volunteered that they would not have been able to complete their studies without this support. Music and dance were also significant Oasis activities initiated by students among themselves. Opportunity for ‘power naps’ in the Quiet Space was also appreciated.
However, Oasis also hosted a number of events and gatherings in 2015: a Harmony Day lunch , a public seminar, ‘The Muslim Mind’, in association with the Hawke Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding, and a staff Farewell celebration. Oasis also held one of its public evening celebrations to provide information about the Oasis redevelopment and provide opportunity for community networking.
Among student-initiated gatherings, the Indonesian Association (PPIA) held a number of Friday afternoon seminars on issues of concern to them, including an interfaith dialogue.
In support of other University agencies –
International Student Services continued their regular morning or afternoon teas in Oasis
the ISS-Oasis partnership, providing weekly English Conversation for Spouses, has continued.
Oasis provided one of a number of venues for Mental Health Week, in partnership with Health and Counselling.
a Volunteering Expo, organized by the Career Centre.
Social Work has used Oasis throughout the year for special support for Masters of Social Work students with difficulties in English language.
Two Master of Social Work students undertook course placements in Oasis.
2015 has been dominated by two over-riding concerns:
adaption to the Function Room space and plans for its refurbishment
provision of prayer rooms in the University
Oasis will continue an open, hosting, supportive, informal approach in 2016 and foster student-initiated activities in keeping with its mission.
For example, we expect that Nutrition students will utilize the new Oasis kitchen for their ‘Students Eating Well’ (StEW) program and we will begin to encourage more interfaith/intercultural activities among students.
Oasis at Sturt
Dr Sheila James, supported by Krystyna Court-Kowalski, Morgan Pankhurst and Nuur Aimi Binti Benjimin offer morning tea as a focus for support of international women students and their families.
Limited use of the FUSA room at Sturt has restricted International Morning Teas to once a week.
Oasis at Tonsley
A small multifaith group facilitated by Dr Shaowen Qin and Rev Dave Williamson meets weekly as Oasis at Tonsley for diverse activities, including Meditation and Yoga.
The Oasis team
In 2015 four team members retired and six have joined.
In 2016, a member of the Flinders Health and Counseling team will interact with the Oasis team to offer informal support and professional skills development, and strengthen the relationship between Health and Counselling and Oasis.
The Oasis Administrative Officer, Lisa Chandler, continues to be the lynch-pin for welcoming, communication and organization within the Oasis centre.
Oasis as networking catalyst
During conversations with university staff in 2014, it became clear that the category ‘well being’ might capture the goal of spiritual care expected of Oasis by the University; in fact the term was already being employed in research and teaching in diverse parts of the university.
In keeping with its lean/agile conception, and strategy of embedding across the university, the role of the Oasis Coordinator as networker and Oasis as catalyst promoting well being began to crystalize.
As a result, a number of collaborative ventures are in train for 2016.
A three day international cross-disciplinary conference on the theme of wellbeing in July 2016, organized by Education’s SWAPv (Prof. Phillip Slee)
‘Cross –cultural Conversations’ (Verity Kingsmill, Career Centre)
Masters of Social Work placements (Assoc. Prof. Carol Irizarry)
Social Entrepreneurship (Kathryn Anderson, NVI)
Oasis is also a strong supporter of
the International Office’s ‘Jembatan’ project (relationship with Indonesia)
the work of the EO Officer, particularly supporting the Ally network and as a reconciliatory agency working positively to ameliorate various forms of discrimination on campus.
Oasis also has strong connections with Yunggorendi and the Art Museum.
Management
A ‘lean/agile’ approach has been adapted to manage the work of the Oasis team:
The ‘Owner’ is the University.
The ‘Scrum Manager’ is the Oasis Coordinating Chaplain.
The ‘Creative/Development Team’ is the Oasis team of volunteers, acting autonomously within the ethical and professional mandate of Oasis and the context of the values of the University.
The Scrum meets weekly; open communication is by Facebook and Whiteboard.
The Scrum Manager meets individuals of the team as required to encourage, reinforce the direction of Oasis and to listen for feedback.
Community Engagement
Geoff Boyce and Alan Larkin were invited to the University of Tasmania to present a seminar on religious diversity in the university setting. They also conducted a workshop at the invitation of the Spiritual Care Australia national conference in Hobart.
Geoff and Rev Dave Williamson attended the Conference of European University Chaplains in Holland.
Geoff’s community engagement in 2015 has included:
continued relationship with Western Sydney University, as a member of the selection panel for their first Coordinating Chaplain.
the keynote speaker for International Pastoral Care Day in Canberra.
continuing to assist efforts by bodies negotiating religious pluralism in their organisations, such as schools/school chaplaincy, hospitals and prisons
has been re-appointed to the national ‘Relations with Other Faiths’ working group of the Uniting Church for the next three years.
Further Report
A more detailed report is being prepared to clarify how Oasis is tangibly contributing to the social capital and financial sustainability of the University.
I hope that broad engagement with the University in 2016 will enhance Oasis’ contribution to the University, with the goal of maximising the University’s investment in it.
Geoff Boyce
Oasis Coordinating Chaplain
November 25, 2015
Prompted by our need, Flinders Human Resources have agreed to a minor project on Volunteering at Flinders.
Our documentation is on the new Oasis website.
I will be meeting with Volunteering SA in a couple of weeks to begin a process of ensuring our documentation complies, the recruitment of 3 new volunteers, their orientation and skills development.
Shiela has recruited 2 new volunteers to assist her at Sturt.
Oasis hosted a volunteers expo organized by Careers on Tuesday afternoon, 4 to 6pm. I made good contact with ‘Volunteering in the South’, a branch of Volunteering SA/NT. I think we may make a good connection with them rather than the city office.
Curriculum
Following a discussion at a recent team meeting, Shaowen has had discussions with the first year Engineering coordinator about Oasis providing moral/ethical input to students in the classroom.
I will have a discussion with the coordinator about ways Oasis might facilitate this.
My initial thought is that rather than act directly to run such a program, we innovate along similar lines as MoTiv’s ‘Night of Philosophy’ that allows the students themselves to engage with their engineering mentors on moral and ethical issues. That would protect our integrity as catalyst rather than provider.
Well Being
SWAPv, a research and teaching unit in Education, is planning a three day conference on the theme of well being in July 2016.
The way is beginning to open for Oasis to host an inter-disciplinary get-to-gether of academics who are working directly on this theme in support of the conference and into the future.
Social Entrepreneurship
Social Entrepreneurship was a major theme at the Conference of European University Chaplains Dave and I attended in Holland. It links to wellbeing; well being is the object toward which social entrepreneurship is directed.
The University has picked up on technological entrepreneurship with the New Venture Insistute (NVI) at the new high-tech facility at Tonsley. I have asked the VC why Flinders is not taking up social entrepreneurship. So I have been directed to have a meeting with the Director of NVI and Exec Dean of Social and Behavioural Sciences. It will be an opportunity to explain how Oasis is an example of social entrepreneurship, advance the idea of an interdisciplinary well being network at Flinders and support for ‘agile’ management systems that have evolved out of the ‘start-up’ scene that empower volunteers and activists. I think it also links with how we develop the placement of Social Work students in Oasis.
Spiritual and Religious Inclusion in a Secular University Geoff Boyce, Oasis at Flinders Coordinating Chaplain and Alan Larkin, Oasis
A video-conference with the Community of Practice at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, April 22, 2015, chaired by Colin Clark, Head of University Careers, Disability and Counselling and the Student Centre at UTas.
The following information was circulated by Colin to inform UTas staff about the conference:
Community of Practice – Social Inclusion As the student cohort continues to diversify, the push for increased internationalisation and cultural literacy within the University community also grows. The impact of this trend on the wider Tasmanian community is also of note and the University is a significant stakeholder in promoting cultural understanding, care and engagement. Central to any cultural understanding and inclusion is the awareness of religious and spiritual beliefs and the associated pastoral care this entails. The University identifies clearly as a secular organisation but welcomes religious and spiritual representative chaplains on campus. These are volunteer roles, usually on top of an existing University staff role or other full time role in the wider community. The University does not have an integrated or acknowledged spiritual and pastoral care vision or direction. While the Representative Chaplains facilitate a number of very positive programs and interventions, these are not coordinated across the University and the concept of a multi faith environment on campus is not clearly identified or promoted.
An opportunity exists in conjunction with the national Spiritual Care Australia conference held in Hobart, for the Coordinating Chaplain from Flinders University to discuss how spiritual and pastoral care in a multi faith environment on campus has been developed over the last two decades. Mr Geoff Boyce is the founder of the Oasis Centre at Flinders, which incorporates a range of issues encompassing social inclusion – hospitality, welcoming, mentoring, peer engagement, social networking and volunteering. Underpinning these activities is a cultural diversity in which spiritual practice and belief is respected and enriched.
Geoff has offered to facilitate a session at UTAS, outlining his journey of development with the Oasis centre and initiating a discussion with interested stakeholders across the University around engaging with internationalisation, inclusion and equity through spiritual and pastoral care and a multi faith perspective. The session will be run via video conferencing on Wednesday, April 22 from 1.30pm – 3pm.
Introduction In addressing the themes raised in the brief, I am present today as a member of staff of the university. I am not here to talk about religion per se, but as a fellow traveller with others in universities continually figuring out how best to respond to ever-changing realities in our situations.
Put another way, I am not here to make any argument for religion as such. But I think it is self-evident that we are at a point in history where we must take notice of it. How we may address religious pluralism in a secular institution in the context of a commitment to inclusion is at the heart of the Oasis project; and is the subject of the conversation-starter we offer today.
My colleague, Alan Larkin has been one of a number of mentors in the development of Oasis over the last ten years and is now an active member of the Oasis Team on campus. Alan was formerly the Director of the Flinders University Institute of International Education. He has spent considerable time in Indonesia and the Philippines consulting with government officials in the development of education in those countries. His focus at Flinders before his retirement has been postgraduate programs in leadership, management and strategic planning.
I have been a secondary school teacher for 25 years, always interested in innovation and the welfare of students, falling into university chaplaincy in my “retirement”.
I intend to begin by sharing some backgroud on why Oasis developed the way it has at Flinders. It has been a seventeen-year evolution, and only in the last two years within the administrative structures of the University.
Then Alan will comment on critical aspects of the emergence of Oasis and its significance in the tertiary sector, coming at it from the perspective of a life-time of engagement in leadership and management, firstly in the private sector, then as an Educational Consultant in Secondary Schools and finally as an academic within the Flinders School of Education.
In identifying parameters for our presentations, we have been inspired and guided by this statement on the Vice-Chancellor’s UTas webpages:
The student experience, beyond curriculum, is a critical component of university life and a determinant of student demand. We aspire to provide an equitable and inclusive environment for our students, valuing diversity and encouraging respect, fairness and justice.
UTas Talent Strategic Plan, 2012
Spiritual Care I was struck by an aside of a person being interviewed on Radio National last Saturday morning about an innovative approach to providing social services. The aside was about a little church community in Melbourne, which had developed a breakfast program for homeless men in their locale. Apparently the group must have been relying on government funding because they had ‘lost their tender’; and now a large social welfare NGO had taken on the job. But the comment that struck me was this – under the new regime with the NGO the hungry were still fed – but now there was no-one to sit down alongside the men to listen to them.
I once heard a visiting Professor of Psychiatry from Harvard discussing how he understood spirituality. He put up on the screen the words of the prayer attributed to St Francis of Assisi – ‘Make me a channel of your peace…’ He had highlighted the key end-words – peace, hope, love, faith, pardon… These he described as ‘positive emotions’. And if they are emotions, he said, neuroscience places them in the limbic area of the brain. They are hard-wired in all human persons.
‘Spiritual Care’ relates to the nurture of these ‘positive emotions’.
On the other hand, he said, religion is a construct. So it is found in the cognitive part of the brain. Religion consists of those practices intended to foster positive spirituality. These practices are not innate – religion is learnt cognitively.
I have recently been in contact with a distinguished neuroscientist at Flinders and he tells me that the brain is much more complicated than that and continues to be mysterious! Nevertheless, I think it is a useful, if tentative, thought – that the human person is innately spiritual, but religions are constructed and vary from culture to culture.
In this sense, Oasis represents a move to foster spirituality in a secular institution, while still recognizing and affirming the role of religion and culture.
Internationalisation and Religion
We know that international students bring their religion with them. We know that recognition of their culture and the opportunity for them to practice their religion is important to them. We also know that many international students miss the cultural contexts of their religion, particularly the religiously based cultural festivals, such as Eid or Diwali, when whole communities, regardless of individual beliefs, celebrate together.
If we were to recruit globally, we might expect our students to bring with them all of these belief systems and more.
We would expect that a globally recruited intake of students would reflect a diversity of religious belief as if we had taken a slice through the graph – it would reflect the explosion of Christianity in Africa and Asia; the Muslim consensus of countries in the Middle East and Indonesia; the ‘unaffiliated’ masses of China; Hindu India; Buddhist Asia – these are massive populations – as well as indigenous, pagan and animist cultures.
What we end up with is a diversity of faiths. And each of these has its own diversity!
A picture of our globally recruited intake of students might look similar to a picture of immigration to Australia. The way we have included migrants of diverse cultures has been to see Australia as a multi-cultural (literally, many cultures) country and to encourage the celebration of that diversity and respect between the different ethnic groups.
Similarly, multi-faith (literally, many faiths) refers to the recognition of the right of each faith to their religion and implies respect between them. The process of learning to celebrate that diversity of faiths as a nation is an ongoing one. (And the University might play an important role in assisting with it!)
Interfaith Harmony between faiths is much more challenging!
Interfaith (literally between faiths) relates to the additional input, beyond multifaith, to foster a culture of peace and harmony in a pluralist social setting. Interfaith goes beyond recognition and respect for the rights of other faiths – it says that we are all in the same boat, so we have to learn how to row together for the sake of an agreed goal – a peaceful, civil society.
(For further explanation and explication of the differences between diversity and pluralism,
see The Pluralism Project at Harvard University: http://pluralism.org/encounter/challenges)
But isn’t the university secular? The history of South Australian settlement indicates that ‘secular’ cannot equate to ‘a-religious’. Many of the early colonisers were ‘religious’ – ‘dissenters’ escaping oppression by the established Church of England (the church hand-in-glove with the state) or religious persecution elsewhere. They were insistent on a secular state to avoid a repeat of abusive religious power in the new utopian colony. Yet they built twenty-five churches in the square mile of Adelaide – the ‘City of Churches’! The secular state guaranteed them religious freedom, not the abandonment of it.
Faced with the reality that everyone on campus has beliefs of some kind, and many of these religious, I think we have to re-examine what we mean by ‘secular’. I think it is unrealistic to assume that everyone may be treated as if religiously neutral. We get some clues about this when we talk with Australian Aboriginal people. To reduce their human person to the material, as if there is no spiritual, is to deny their humanity. I don’t see how I might understand my Aboriginal friends without engaging with their spirituality.
‘Secular’ does not mean ‘a-religious’. But I think in our situation it could mean that no one religion be privileged over another by the institution.
Oasis The seeds of Oasis at Flinders were sown in 1997 when the Christian chaplains accepted the reality and validity of ‘multi-faith’ and began to invite student societies, clubs and associations of minority religions into the Religious Centre, which had, since its inception in 1968, been ‘mono-faith’. As a result, minority faiths were invited to appoint their own chaplains.
By 2005, Flinders had achieved a multifaith chaplaincy, with every major world religion represented, on campus, or by association.
On this journey, we met weekly for lunch together. We rarely talked about religion. But as we got to know each other, friendship blossomed and we began to support each other in our various activities.
I remember walking with others behind a banner created by my Buddhist colleague, Thay, drawing attention to the killing of Buddhist monks in Myanmar. For me, this was not just a concern for Buddhists. A young nursing student approached me at one stage. She was obviously very moved by this procession. She told me that she was from Myanmar, that she didn’t think anyone in Australia knew about the plight of her country, and she didn’t know anyone else at Flinders from her homeland. At the conclusion of the procession, I introduced her to Thay, who follows the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition. Nevertheless, he spent time listening to and affirming her and gave her a Buddhist blessing from her tradition. She went away affirmed, her spirits lifted and now feeling cared for, not just as a student but more deeply for who she was, and more connected to the university.
Looking back, these collaborative actions signaled the beginning of a move from multifaith, where we respected each other and didn’t try to change each other, to interfaith in action, each working together for a common cause, yet each partner retaining their identity and bringing the gifts of that identity to the cause – serving the whole university community in agreement with the rubric decided on together: nurturing spirit, building community.
The practice that enlivened this move was the practice of hospitality, the creation of space not to change the other, but to allow the other to explore their own changes.
(Detailed in An Improbable Feast – the surprising dynamic of hospitality at the heart of multifaith chaplaincy. Geoff Boyce 2010)
This consensus on a common rubric, enlivened by hospitality, would find tangible expression in the conception of Oasis – a metaphor for openness and inclusion, holding promise beyond the former ‘Religious Centre’, which, at best, could only be multi-faith, a vision not radical enough to avoid future conflict between faiths in challenging new situations.
From Responsibility of Religious Communities to Responsibility of the University Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8 and other financial demands on the major church denominations, a number of churches withdrew funding for university chaplaincy. In late 2012 it looked like Oasis might collapse. However, the re-introduction of student fees that year enabled the University to take the initiative to draw Oasis into its administrative structure and fund two full-time staff to continue to develop Oasis – an Oasis Coordinating Chaplain to hold together a team of volunteers, and an Oasis Administrative Officer to manage the centre.
The support of religious communities to appoint chaplains to Oasis was still sought, but under the condition that such chaplains commit to advancing the vision of Oasis and that they be equal members of the Oasis Team.
Administratively, Oasis was placed within Student Services under the line-management of the Head of Health, Counselling and Disability Services. However, Oasis continued to be connected with a number of inter-related constituencies – students, staff (university services, schools and departments) and the wider community.
Connection with staff was vital if Oasis was to have a university-wide mandate; connection with the wider community, if Oasis was to continue to draw on volunteers from the community and share its ‘research’ more widely.
Since its embrace by the university Oasis has continued to evolve. The latest iteration of its vision statement is :
Oasis at Flinders is a university centre aiming to inspire a culture of care: providing hospitality,promoting well being, fostering inclusive spirituality, responsive to the Flinders and wider community.
Some Oasis strategic decisions, 2013 – 2015
Building personal welcoming, networking and hospitality functions into the position description of the Oasis Administrative Officer, complementing the administrative functions of managing the Oasis centre. Personalising the centre cultivates a culture of care, distinguishing it from other non-personalised spaces.
Establishing the Oasis Team as an inclusive team comprising those who are committed to the vision of Oasis and its values; the Team may include chaplains appointed by religious communities on the same basis as other team members. The team is a mix of ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs’ – each drawing on the strengths, the skills and experience, of the other.
Establishing that all activities within the Oasis centre are expected to be inclusive; religious clubs and societies to fall within the aegis of the Flinders University Students Association; and worship activities the province of places of worship in the local community. i.e. Oasis focuses on the ‘inter’, building respectful and caring relationships between people of difference.
Encouraging the emergence of Oasis as a drop-in, community centre, where interchange among students and their empowerment, in keeping with the ethos of Oasis, is encouraged.
Staff initiatives in keeping with the ethos of Oasis are encouraged and supported.
Retaining a small, agile, innovative, complementary role, collaborating with other university agencies to value-add to the university, rather than allowing Oasis to grow into another ‘silo’.
Insisting on informal, hospitable, non-commercial, voluntary parameters and resisting ‘rescuing’ or encroachment on the legitimate roles of other agencies or staff of the university.
The first annual report of Oasis at Flinders in 2014 outlines some of its early and continuing theoretical principles and activities during its first year within the administrative structures of the university. www.flinders.edu.au/oasis
What follows are the images from a short film produced in early 2015 for ‘O-Week’ illustrating life in Oasis. www.flinders.edu.au/oasis
About forty years ago there was a rebellion by some engineering students at Delft Technical University (TUD) in Holland. They were sick and tired of being spoken down to – lectured at– communication only passing one way. They wanted a stop to being treated as objects spoken down to. They wanted to be treated as intelligent human beings with feelings!
Some of them met with a chaplain and together, they came up with a plan.
It involved, first of all, the passing of a motion by the Student Council, directed at the academy. The motion was that at least on one occasion every year, the professors had to talk personally about themselves, the students asking their questions about the professor’s professional lives.
The motion was passed, instigating what became known as ‘The Night of Philosophy of…”
(‘Philosophy’ – ‘ideas about knowledge, truth, the meaning of life and how one lives’ – Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
That chaplain was visiting China last year, as part of the MoTiv* team from TUD accompanying a group of engineering students meeting for interchange with a group of Chinese engineering students. MoTiv’s task was to accompany the Delft students and act as cultural interpreters during the exchange. (Reported: http://brc.tudelft.nl/NewsDetails.aspx?pid=86&ctid=2&lang=2&nID=28)
Oasis invited MoTiv to Flinders from China, and while they were here, to introduce us to ‘The Night of Philosophy’. The relatively newly formed Criminal Justice Students Association took up Oasis’ offer to be the guinea pigs. They organized the invitations to the their members and the staff they would like to attend and generated the questions they’d like to ask; Oasis organized a dinner catered by Flinders Housing and supported the student leadership beforehand and on the night.
About 6 to 8 students and one staff member sat at each round table. During each course the staff member was questioned by the students – ‘why did you decide to become a lawyer?’ – ‘what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to face’ – ‘what has been the hardest ethical dilemma you’ve had to resolve for yourself’…
What a great evening we all had! With minimal coaching by Oasis, the students made the night their own; everybody really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. Bonds were built, not only with their lecturers, but with their profession. One student who was about to drop out changed his mind!
In more recent times, MoTiv have also conducted cross-disciplinary ‘Nights of Philosophy’, such as one on the theme of Water – a significant theme in Holland for a technical university! These drew students together with highly distinguished professionals and academics from a range of fields. The students were inspired, finding out that their heroes were human, just like them!
Oasis, as an agency connecting students, staff and community within the context of hospitality, well being and inclusive spirituality, would like to play a supportive role in initiatives by students, staff and professional associations interested in adopting or adapting this student-centred strategy, contributing to Flinders reputation as a university that cares for its students.
*MoTiv and Oasis share a similar history of re-invention and secular engagement – in their case, the focus is on motivation in the context of technology. The Oasis -MoTiv connection is likely to strengthen as we explore how the emerging Oasis team at Tonsley, led by Dave Williamson, finds ways to support the Tonsley initiative within the mission of Oasis.
![OCE_201 Oasis Logo_vertical[2][2]](https://travellingchaplain.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/oce_201-oasis-logo_vertical22.jpg?w=960){kind=logo}
What a messy looking diagram! But its the first step for me to get on paper where I think Oasis has been going in 2015 and is heading in 2016 . So here goes the much needed explanation!
Travelling Chaplain 