Equalities legislation in relation to religion and belief can present specific challenges for predominantly residential and collegiate universities. Organising provision for faith groups in relation to food, accommodation and timetabling can be hard to organise because the central university has limited control over the various constituent colleges. In addition, often the colleges have historical links with Christianity, meaning that while a number of Anglican chaplains may be represented, chaplains from other religious traditions may not. At one institution, the university has responded by encouraging the chaplain whose main role is to serve the staff at the university to take on a new multi-faith role and to work alongside the equalities and diversity (E&D) team.

As part of his new role the chaplain and the E&D team have begun to develop a forum on religion and belief which will enable them to gather information about the concerns of the university’s faith groups. As the chaplain explains:

The people organising new forum have slowly begun to develop a network of representatives from the university’s student faith societies as well as staff from different parts of the university to try and explain to them what equality law requires and to work out ways in which the university can accommodate faiths successfully.

The forum is only just beginning to emerge, but there have been a number of developments already. For example, the chaplains and societies have helped to develop a calendar that provides details of religious festivals or periods of observance that, in the words of one of the E&D officers, “are likely to have some or some potential impact on work: fasting periods, periods where you can’t work, periods where you need to be in the house, periods where you have to be in your religious building for six hours, or five times a day, and so on.” They have also produced a multi-faith “term card” which corresponds to those produced by the university chapels and which give details of the services and contacts of the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious societies.

There remain significant challenges to be dealt with. The E&D officer comments that as yet there are no policy guidelines on religion and belief that relate to students. Some of the non-Anglican chaplaincy figures have mentioned, too, that they feel excluded. Nevertheless, the chaplain is hopeful that the new group can help the university become, in his words, more “mindful of the needs of others.”