Andrew Johnson
York College Student Senator and Club Council President Haroon Hassan plans to conduct an event at the school’s Performing Arts Center that seeks to unite CUNY’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities.
Hassan, who plans to run for re-election for Student Government, says that the plan of the event, called “The Path to Religious Tranquility,” is to bridge all the gaps between the three religious groups, reduce the intolerance and to emphasize their common beliefs and backgrounds.
“This is going to focus on the similarities between the religions,” Hassan said. “This event is to unify our community- the religious community.”
The event was originally planned to be held this semester, but due to funding issues and the inability to get a speaker for the event, it was pushed to the fall.
Should Hassan not be re-elected to Student Government, he plans to move forward with the idea. The event will cost approximately $4,000 to $5,000 and will factor in security, facility costs, cleanup and promotion of the event on the York campus and all around the CUNY system.
The school’s religious clubs have been asked to select their recommended speakers and forward them to Hassan.
Hassan said that the school’s three groups have had a good relationship, but he also stated that there were reported incidents of religious intolerance at the school. He brought up the example of trash being left in the meeting area of the Muslim Student Association.
While he stated these incidents were rare in occurrence, he believes that this is something that should not be tolerated.
“Even if you think two times is not too much, I think that’s a lot,” Hassan said in regards to the incidents occurring within the religious clubs. “It should not happen at all. Anything more than that is too much.”
He believes that in a modern, melting-pot society, incidents, such as these should not be allowed to happen and that the public should stand up against such acts.
“We live in very a multi-cultural, multi-religious society,” Hassan said. “Everyone should respect each other.”
