To the Editor:

As an alumna of ISU and the current chairperson of the Administrative Council of Collegiate United Methodist Church/Wesley Foundation, I was shocked to learn that plans were underway to tear down the chapel in the Memorial Union. I am writing to request that you deny permission for the destruction of the only spiritually designated space on the entire campus.

The argument that the chapel is not used is simply untrue. The clergy, students and ISU faculty and staff who are part of our church community frequent the chapel and are aware that many others avail themselves of it as well. Because use of the space is private and personal, no record is kept of those who use it, but visits to the chapel will reveal many who go there to pray, reflect and contemplate.

The architect of the Memorial Union obviously used great care not only in creating the chapel, but in placing it where he did. The chapel needs to be welcoming to persons of all faiths, and perhaps some thoughtful changes are needed, but it should not be destroyed.

With the increasing level of stress on campus and the all-too-frequent suicides of ISU students, I urge you not only to leave the chapel where it stands, but to advertise and encourage its use. After all, the university should be interested in the development of the whole student, i.e., the intellectual, the physical and the spiritual. We have already ruined the old chapel in Morril Hall. Let us not take away the only other symbol of spiritual life and growth on this campus.

Kay H. Silet

Ames resident