The mission of the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life is to support Occidental students, faculty and staff in their pursuit of a vibrant and meaningful religious and spiritual life while engaging religious pluralism with a commitment to mutual respect, awareness and dialogue.
We encourage students to consider how their spiritual development intersects with their intellectual growth. The office hosts a variety of events including retreats, study breaks, opportunities to engage in spiritual practice including walking the labyrinth every Wednesday, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Lunch, and the Interfaith Baccalaureate Service. For more information about our events, visit our events page.
Resources for Food Insecurity and Economic Hardship
The Office for Religious and Spiritual Life has compiled a list of resources for individuals and families experiencing food insecurity or economic hardship due to the pandemic. If you have information about additional resources that we can add to this list, please contact Rev. Dr. Susan Young, the Director for Religious and Spiritual Life, at young@oxy.edu. Our office has tried to confirm that the information provided here is as up to date as possible. Please notify Rev. Dr. Young if you find that any of this information is inaccurate.
The 2024-25 Values and Vocations Fellowship
The Values and Vocations Fellowship provides students the opportunity to explore the intersection of spirituality and social justice through community-based learning and a weekly seminar. The central premise of the Values and Vocations Fellowship is that social justice work cannot be effectively sustained over a lifetime without a strong, centered and regular spiritual practice.
- Read more and download the application
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The Values and Vocations Fellowship will be awarded to up to five Occidental students during the 2024-2025 academic year. Fellows will volunteer 8 to 10 hours per week at a community organization. An additional two hours each week will be spent attending the seminar. During this seminar, fellows will engage in small group exercises, spiritual or contemplative practices and discussions about religion, spirituality, social justice, community engagement and vocation. Rev. Dr. Susan E. Young, Director for Religious and Spiritual Life, will lead the seminar. Fellows will receive a stipend of $1,000 each semester.
To apply for the Fellowship, students must: (1) submit the application; and (2) participate in a fifteen-minute interview. The Values and Vocations Fellowship application is divided into two parts. Part one is the student application and part two is the faculty reference. Both the student application and faculty reference are due Thursday, September 19, 2024. We will contact you to schedule an interview upon receiving your application.Students can submit their application by emailing it to Rev. Dr. Young at young@oxy.edu.
Policy on Academic Accommodations for Reasons of Faith and Conscience
As Occidental College strives to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality, we recognize that the student body includes adherents of many faiths and students who passionately believe their ideology. As our student body becomes more diverse, it is increasingly important that we, as an inclusive community, make academic accommodations for students from a variety of religious, spiritual and cultural backgrounds and personal convictions. View the full policy and the procedure for requesting accommodations for reasons of faith and conscience.
View a list of religious and spiritual holidays and days of conscience.
NetVUE Regional Conference
Occidental College was pleased to collaborate with the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) to host a regional conference "Voices from the Margins: Supporting Vocational Exploration with Underserved Students" on January 16-18, 2020. The conference was focused on how to foster meaningful vocational exploration with underserved college students