While making friends at a large university can be hard, many Muslim students also struggle with the additional challenge of connecting with others from different cultures. The Muslim Student Association wants to break down those barriers this semester.
Bioengineering junior Hanif Soysal, from Turkey, moved to the US 13 years ago and serves as the MSA president. Soysal said the clubs members have two main goals that he hopes will increase the MSA’s membership and help it become more noticeable on campus.
“The main goal is to provide the MSA members themselves, whether they be Muslim or not, a chance to meet regularly and have a community within LSU,” Soysal said.
For now, it is a relatively small organization with about 30-40 active members from a wide range of backgrounds. Providing a community of friendship for members is only the first part of what they want to accomplish.
“The second goal would be outreach … MSA has been growing steadily in the last year and we want to get involved in the community,” said Soysal.
Nadiyah Furqan, sociology senior and public relations chairperson of the MSA, says that interest in Islam at the University is high and hardly a week goes by without getting some sort of question about her religion.
“Islam is brought up in almost every class I sit down in,” Furqan said. “People are curious and want to know more, rather than hold on to misconceptions.”
Soysal says he knows becoming more well-known in the community is not something that happens overnight, but he hopes the club can make improvements.
“Just a year ago MSA was a less active group. Our first goal is to build that group … so that we can focus on outreach and service,” Soysal said.
For now, the main part of their outreach plans are to continue with their efforts talking and handing out pamphlets in Free Speech Alley, and possibly plan for an Islamic awareness week on campus later this semester.