THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
When George Fain visits a grave today to mark a pagan holiday,she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classesat Marshall University in Huntington.
That's because her absence on the Samhain holiday has beenapproved by the school, which for the first time is recognizingpagan students' desire to be excused from class for religiousholidays and festivals.
The university with an enrollment of about 14,000 may be the onlyschool in the country to formally protect pagan students from beingpenalized by missing work that falls on religious holidays, althoughother schools have catchall policies they say protect students fromevery religious faith.
But as members of the eclectic group of faiths gathered under theterm "pagan" become more willing to publicly assert their beliefs,Fain suggests other schools may follow Marshall's example.
"I think we may have opened a door," Fain said. "Now that we knowwe can be protected, that the government will stand behind us and wefeel safe, it's going to be more prevalent."
The state's largest university, West Virginia University, doesnot have a policy specifically addressing pagan holidays.
The decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work fromclasses on holidays was simply an extension of existing universitypolicy toward members of other religious groups, according toMarshall's Dean of Student Affairs Steve Hensley.
"I don't think there are a lot of students here who have thosebeliefs, but we want to respect them," Hensley said. "It was reallyjust a matter of looking into it, and deciding what was the rightthing."
Although the university had considered adopting a calendar ofspecific pagan holidays on which excuses for absence would begranted, Hensley said he ultimately decided to adopt a case-by-casepolicy.
Students are responsible for establishing that they are religiousbelievers and that the holiday in question is important to theirrespective tradition by filing a written request with Hensley. Theuniversity is aware of the potential for some students to falselyclaim to be pagan in a bid to skip a midterm they haven't studiedfor.
"What we're trying to do is get at what students' core beliefsare," he said.
It's not easy to say whether Marshall is the only university withsuch a policy. Experts on paganism contacted for this story say theyaren't aware of others. A call to the American Association ofCollegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers was not immediatelyreturned Wednesday.
Some schools have catchall policies that allow students to beexcused for any religious holiday. Such a policy has been formallyin place at LeHigh University in Pennsylvania for about eight years,according to Lloyd Steffen, a professor of religion and theuniversity's chaplain.
Such an accommodation for pagans is also rare in Britain, thebirthplace of modern paganism.
"Nobody yet gets any holiday for pagan festivals in the UnitedKingdom. It seems to be an American original," said Ronald Hutton, ahistory professor at the University of Bristol in England.
By specifically including pagans, Marshall is taking an importantstep toward recognizing the validity of their beliefs, said JasonPitzl-Waters, an authority on paganism who edits the Wild Hunt Website from Milwaukee.
"That's part of the struggle for modern pagans," said Pitzl-Waters, a pagan. "Even though modern paganism has been in publicsince the 1950s, a lot of people still see it as a rebelliousteenage activity, not necessarily something you do as a religiousobservance."
That's starting to change, according to Helen Berger, a sociologyprofessor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
In particular, she cited the recent decision by the Department ofDefense to agree to pagan requests that the five-pointed star -sometimes called the pentacle - be allowed on the gravestones ofveterans in national cemeteries.
"That was a major win, and it's encouraged them to start lookingfor areas where they can gain the rights and recognition that otherreligions have," Berger said.
The term "pagan" encompasses a diverse array of faiths who caninclude those seeking to reconstruct the forms of pre-Christianreligious worship in Northern Europe to the better-known Wiccans,who draw largely on more recent sources.
"What binds us together isn't our theology, necessarily," Pitzl-Waters said. "What binds us together is a sense of communal practiceand togetherness."
Putting a number on pagan believers in the United States can bedifficult. Estimates range from 400,000 to 1 million. Part of theproblem is that many believers may feel uncomfortable acknowledginga faith that is still regarded with suspicion.
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