Creating Sacred Spaces: Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim Student Groups at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Why are some schools home to Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim student organizations but others are not? In this article, we draw on theories of student mobilization, especially recent theoretical insights on educational opportunity structures, to understand the factors associated with the presence and number of minority religious student organizations at U.S. colleges and universities. Analyzing an original database of minority religious student groups across 1,953 four-year, not-for-profit U.S. colleges and universities, we show that large, wealthy schools that are located in liberal, pluralistic contexts and that are not affiliated with Christian denominations exhibit greater odds of having at least one minority religious student organization. Similar factors are associated with the overall number of minority religious student organizations at a school. Our article represents the most comprehensive study to date of minority religious student organizations and sheds light on issues of unequal access to student organizations more generally.