On Wednesday, the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) hosted Director of the Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual life Oliver Goodrich who spoke about the “You Belong” initiative and a new position in the Rachel Lord Center focused on working with Muslim students. In addition, BSG touched on the naloxone training and distribution and the senior buddy program.

For much of the session, Goodrich ran BSG members through the session format for the recent “Belonging at Bowdoin” series he facilitated through the fall. He talked about the importance of the series for people to feel welcome on campus and have a space to talk about their respective identities. At the end of the session, he received feedback from the BSG.

Goodrich also described the work he has been doing in coordination with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) to make Muslim student life more equitable. This push for support is akin to work already done with other prominent faith-based student organizations like the Catholic Students Union (CSU) and the Christian Student Association (CSA).

“We’ve organized a working group with some students and some faculty and other staff to really focus in on the experience [Muslim students] had during Ramadan this past year,” Goodrich said. “We can nudge the dial forward and do a little better as an institution to meet our Muslim students’ needs, particularly during that season.”

He also announced a new part-time position at the Rachel Lord Center intended to promote feelings of belonging for Muslim students at Bowdoin, which is a position already in place for the CSU and  the CSA.

“It’ll be coming out in the next two to three days, but we’re really happy that we’ve been able to work with MSA and one of our recent alums … to create a position called ‘Muslim Life Adviser,’” Goodrich said.

The meeting ended with a couple of event promotions for the coming weeks. The BSG is holding a naloxone training and distribution on October 27 from 5 to 6 p.m. in Adams 208. The BSG also promoted an initiative to send 150 students to see “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” on November 11, fully funded by the College.

Finally, the BSG talked about the senior buddy program set to happen this year. While still in the works, the program is anticipated to be underway by the end of the semester.