The Carole Chapel’s doors are locked up during usual open hours and Washburn students are beginning to wonder why. The chapel was previously available for meditation where students could go during their free time on campus, but the confusion of the hours has led to the doors being locked 24/7.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the chapel was open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m during the weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. on the weekends. Students were able to go in the chapel most hours of the day to have private time for prayer and adoration without having to request special access.
Chris Enos, chief of police at Washburn University, believes that the building may be closed due to safety issues for students since the chapel does not have any police or staff supervision.
“We want the students to be able to use the chapel as it was intended but to also be safe,” Enos said. “Buildings like the pavilion and the chapel do not have supervisors 24/7, so there has to be a balance with use, security and safety.”
The Carole Chapel is a 1,500 square-foot building located between Mabee Library and the Memorial Union. It is currently locked unless there is a special event scheduled through the Washburn University Scheduling office. The chapel’s use is not limited to the Washburn family as members of the Topeka community are also able to reserve the venue for events.
“The chapel’s original purpose was to be able to host events such as recitals, weddings, campus events because they wanted people to be able to do these cool things on campus,” said Becky Bolte, director of Memorial Union. “Everything started to change, because there wasn’t as many people on campus, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Carole Chapel was originally located at the former Menninger Foundation site in Topeka and moved to Washburn’s campus in December 2004. The chapel was named after Carole Bloomfield Etzel along with her husband Tim Etzel. They were essential to the chapel’s establishment on campus and worked to raise funds for the project.
Amongst all the chaos that comes with a college campus, Carole and Tim wanted the chapel to be a place where students and staff could have a peaceful place for reflection. It is a place that many students would use to get away from their daily stressors, but with it no longer being accessible, this is no longer possible for these students.
“It is an amazing campus building where our main concern lies in the safety of our students,” Enos said. “If there is no staff oversight it can be an invitation for problems. We don’t want people who are not affiliated with the university to use it because it is unsupervised.”
The beloved chapel’s stained glass windows and surrounding scotch and Austrian pine trees create an admirable scenery for the students and attendees. It hosts numerous recitals, weddings, and campus events such as Gods Bods and Washburn Young Life.
Lydia Vespestad, a senior health service administration major, is a member of the Washburn Young Life organization and believes the chapel is important to students of faith as it provides a tranquil place for prayer on campus.
“We held some of our first events of the year there for Young Life, but I do think it should be unlocked during the week for the students to have access to,” Vespestad said. “I think it is important to have a chapel on campus for students to have that safe space to talk to the Lord or even have a comfortable space to read through his word.”
Unfortunately, the Carole Chapel is not open for meditation and is only available for special events until further notice.
To find out more about Young Life at Washburn, visit the organizations website https://topeka.younglife.org/find-us/#washburnuniversity.
To schedule an event at the Carole Chapel or another campus facility contact the washburn scheduling office at [email protected] or call (785)670-1725.
Edited by Aja Carter and LeSha’ Davis
antonio • Jan 21, 2024 at 2:17 pm
when I read things like their are safety concerns the first thing I think is it is not safe to pray or its unsafe to be Christian for things to go this far is not right people have truly lost their way
Bob King • Dec 14, 2023 at 4:32 pm
Safety of young women is paramount! There have been problems there in past. There are many places on campus or the church across the street for meditation.
Leah Dixon • Oct 19, 2023 at 7:01 pm
While I understand the safety concerns, it does seem unfair that students can’t access the chapel for meditation and/or prayer. Maybe supervisory staff could be created from a joint project from the various groups on campus who are religion-based. I wouldn’t expect services to be voluntary but surely funding for staff could be raised through any number of platforms? I obviously don’t know all the regulations or rules that would be at play but surely a solution can be found if we come together to find one. The chapel is a great resource for those of the Washburn community who choose to worship and is beneficial to all of us.
Meredith Bernhard • Dec 15, 2023 at 12:13 am
I really hope there are continued efforts to open up the chapel for student use. Every time I walk by it I want to go pray and then realize I can only look in. The architecture itself is the perfect blend of how our faith is both private and seen by the world. Seems like security shouldn’t be too pressing of an issue since it’s mainly glass paneled.