Q&A With Interim CIC President: Dr. Elijah Siegler

An interview with CIC Intern Ash Thompson

Dr. Elijah Siegler and I sat down on Tuesday, November 12th to discuss his outlook on the CIC’s future goals, as well as to reflect upon our past in this time of transition. As a Religious Studies major at CofC, I have taken a class with Dr. Siegler (New Religious Movements) and I am confident that his time as Interim President of CIC will be an exciting one. For those of you who have perhaps not had the opportunity to speak at length with Dr. Siegler, we wanted to create a Q&A session to introduce him as our new “Interim President”:

Q: Dr. Siegler graduated from both Harvard University and U.C. Santa Barbara. He’s experienced many different places between his attendance of schools like these, as well as other trips both within the country and outside of it. The first question I asked was simple: what makes Charleston special?

A: What makes Charleston special is, above all, its incredible religious diversity. Before moving to the city twenty years ago (in 2004) to teach at the College of Charleston, I had never been to South Carolina. Compared to other places–such as Toronto, Boston, New York, and Southern California–Charleston seemed very small, and very Southern. There were many new traditions and customs to learn. But what makes Charleston special is its historical and lasting diversity. Not only does this make it an amazing place to teach American religion, but it also lends itself well to inter-religious work.

Q: On the topic of inter-religious work, I asked Dr. Siegler about his involvement in interfaith dialogue. It is known that interfaith dialogue usually attracts a certain age demographic. In a college city such as Charleston, I was curious what methods the CIC could use to garner more involvement from a younger audience.

A: In the past, when the CIC began, it was originally a clergy group for ministers, rabbis, etc. There wasn’t exactly the need for a broader audience or younger people. One of the first things our previous president, Dena Moses, aimed to do was to open the Council up to more people from different religious backgrounds and ages, including clergy and laypeople. Now we are starting the next step: trying to get younger people involved. We aim to do this through involving CofC interns, welcoming younger people onto the board (like our newest board member, Aasim). We’re also aiming to increase advertising and marketing, including online. The biggest problem is that younger people just seem to be busier and less likely to commit to things.

We will also be incorporating more hands-on events that will be more inviting to younger people. Like last month, we had a meditation event where guests were taught to meditate and last year we had two events involving calligraphy.

Q: My final question for Dr. Siegler was in regards to his future term as Interim President, including what goals he had in mind.

A: Since I am only the “Interim” President, from September to May, my goal is to carry on the legacy Dena Moses began with her incredible work as president. She created a wonderful calendar and many successful events. I plan to leave things in good shape for our current Vice President, Dr. Brennan Keegan, who will take the reins in May as president.

Other than this, I would like to foster an environment where board members and interns can bring new, innovative ideas to the Council. We had many exciting ideas expressed at our most recent Board meeting.

In all, I want to stick to what has worked so well through Dena’s hard work and dedication, leave things in good order, and facilitate a space for new ideas. We are all very excited for what the future holds for the CIC!

If any readers have any ideas, feel free to contact Dr. Siegler at sieglere@cofc.edu!