Najeeba Syeed Interviewed in Interfaith America

Below is an excerpt from "Do New DEI Laws Pose a Threat to Interfaith Programs on U.S. Campuses?" on Interfaith America:

Najeeba Syeed, an endowed chair and executive director of Interfaith at Augsburg University, a private college in Minneapolis, Minnesota, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said it is essential to include faith as a part of DEI discussions, especially on college campuses.   

If it is not, Syeed said, students often feel they are not seen, understood, or heard for the wholeness of who they are.  “And that’s more than a theoretical or ideological issue,” she said, “it manifests in students’ everyday lives, especially students facing multiple forms of marginalization.”   

With more than 30 bills across the U.S. targeting DEI initiatives at public colleges — including Arizona, Oregon and Texas — Syeed fears that people who are religiously observant will lose protections and opportunities for conversations across difference. “Whether people are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or otherwise. The fear is that they can feel invisible if we remove religious diversity as part of higher education model and structures,” she said.   

Despite her worries, Syeed said the current moment is a time to think about what has worked and what has not with DEI and interfaith programs across the country. For them to be successful, she said, they have to do more than provide one group protection but “be predicated on the unique needs and definition of the type of community a university is trying to establish.” Syeed believes universities should involve more stakeholders to commit to a particular DEI vision that is practical enough to evaluate and adjust as campuses continue to change.