Paganism met with mixed feelings at SU

[icymist]

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.
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