Emory University’s new Muslim chaplain, Rahimjon Abdugafurov (20G), began his role on July 1. The University hired Abdugafurov, who is also serving as the director of interfaith academic partnerships, in late May, Assistant Director of University Communications Rachel Smith wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel.
The Muslim chaplain position has been vacant for three years, according to Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) Executive Director Azka Mahmood. When Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish chaplains joined the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life in March 2021, the University shared plans to also hire Muslim and Christian chaplains in the future. Emory appointed Rev. Maddie Henderson Herlong as the Christian chaplain about three months later in June 2021, but did not hire a Muslim chaplain until now.
In the position, Abdugafurov will organize activities of Muslim life, educate Emory community members about Islam, promote a supportive campus for Muslim students, faculty and staff and strengthen external relations with Muslim communities and organizations. Previously, Abdugafurov served as a Muslim chaplain and associate director for religious and spiritual life at Macalester College (Minn.). Additionally, as a senior fellow in Emory Law School’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Abdugafurov previously acted as the executive director of the Law and Islam Program. He was also a fellow at the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies.
Abdugafurov did not respond to the Wheel’s requests for comment.
His appointment comes after a seven-month-long search for a Muslim chaplain, which caught CAIR-Georgia’s attention. CAIR-Georgia sent a letter to University President Gregory Fenves on behalf of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), Graduate Muslim Student Council and the Muslim Student Search Committee (MSSC) on June 24, urging Emory to implement “an inclusive search and hiring process for a Muslim chaplain.”
Specifically, the letter listed four demands by MSSC, a committee of Muslim students involved in the hiring process for the new Muslim chaplain: permission for full participation and transparency throughout the search process, information on hiring criteria and selected and unselected candidates, the ability to review applications of all applicants and agreement on the selection rubric and interview process. The letter further stated that MSSC would refuse to endorse or work with anyone the University hired as the Muslim chaplain until their demands are honored.
MSSC did not respond to the Wheel’s requests for comment about Abdugafurov’s appointment.
The letter states that MSSC discussed its involvement in two separate meetings with Fenves and the search firm. However, CAIR-Georgia Staff Attorney Keon Grant wrote in the letter that the Emory administration has “continuously ignored or at best tokenized” MSSC’s attempts to reach a consensus in the search and hiring process.
Grant wrote that, on April 15, MSSC emailed University Chaplain and Dean of Religious Life Rev. Gregory McGonigle to express its discomfort at its exclusion throughout the hiring process and the lack of prior notice or information for the final interviews, as MSSC members received calendar invites that kept the candidates’ names anonymous.
Upon further communication with McGonigle, Grant wrote that the dean invited MSSC to a halal lunch to meet with pre-selected candidates.
“The Muslim Student Search Committee only being brought in to essentially rubber-stamp an individual from a group that they had no role in determining is nothing more than an attempt by Emory to tokenize the Muslim community and put on a façade of compassion and support for its Muslim students,” Grant wrote.
MSSC then reached out to Fenves and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi Bellamkonda, Grant wrote. He alleged that after the students sent these emails, a member of the committee received a 9 p.m. phone call from McGonigle, which Grant characterized as “extremely inappropriate.”
However, McGonigle maintained that the search process was carried out correctly in an email to the Wheel.
“Emory’s search for a Muslim Chaplain was thorough and inclusive, involving a range of perspectives from students, faculty and staff while following all relevant policies and procedures governing such processes,” McGonigle wrote.
The committee later scheduled a meeting for April 26 with Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Carol Henderson, according to Grant. However, he wrote that MSSC rescheduled the meeting because of “trauma” caused by the events of April 25, when law enforcement arrested 28 pro-Palestinian protestors on campus.
Grant wrote that Henderson later clarified that she could not act as a negotiator, and further attempts to communicate the committee’s requests with Bellamkonda were “fruitless.”
Henderson did not respond to the Wheel’s request for comment. Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond also stated that Emory is unable to discuss personnel matters.
This comes after CAIR-Georgia and Palestine Legal filed a federal civil rights complaint on behalf of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in April. Later that month, CAIR-Georgia held a press conference on campus demanding that Emory and other college administrations divest from Israel.
Mahmood wrote in an email to the Wheel that the University’s actions are “unconscionable.”
“We are deeply disturbed at Emory University’s complete disregard for its Muslim students’ reasonable requests for meaningful participation in the hiring of a Muslim chaplain,” Mahmood wrote.
In response to the Wheel’s request for comment, Emory MSA deferred to CAIR-Georgia’s statement on behalf of MSSC. The group also posted a community update on Instagram alongside CAIR-Georgia and ESJP, explaining their position.
“CAIR-Georgia urges Emory University to honor the Muslims Students’ demands and ensure transparency and inclusivity in the hiring of the Emory Muslim Chaplain,” the post reads. “Without this, the University is simply tokenizing Muslim students’ involvement and continuing their pattern of bias and exclusion of Muslim students.”
