Pepperdine is a Christian university that emphasizes the practice of Christian values for all members of the community. The majority of the campus community hails from Protestant backgrounds, specifically nondenominational evangelical forms of Christianity, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness’ website.
Those who grew up in other Christian traditions, such as Roman Catholic or Orthodox, and those who come from non-Christian backgrounds, must navigate their on-campus Christian surroundings away from their familiar religious upbringings.
“It’s like two different lives,” said senior Melanie Tadros, a Coptic Orthodox Christian. “At home, I’m the daughter of immigrants, in an Arab-speaking household and a church-going community girl and then here, I’m the STEM major, predominantly white school minority.”
As an Egyptian Christian, Tadros grew up going to Christian schools all her life, though she never saw herself going to a Christian university.
“I was like, ‘This is my time to branch out to see the real world to just discover myself, test my faith, whatever it might be,’” Tadros said.
Students share their experiences and upbringings
Ronnie Baruch, a second-year student at the Caruso School of Law, grew up in Israel before moving to the United States when she was 11.
“I grew up very immersed, and everyone around me was Jewish,” Baruch said.
Baruch’s family landed in the Silicon Valley of California. Baruch said the area is very Jewish and a lot of Israelis live there, allowing her to feel integrated with others.
However, upon arriving at Pepperdine, Baruch said she experienced culture shock within the first few conversations she engaged in.
“I came here as raised very Jewish,” Baruch said. “I used Christian and Catholic interchangeably, which was fine for Catholics, but I quickly learned was not fine for Christians.”
At Pepperdine, Tadros said, she openly talks about faith with others. The only struggle is helping others understand what her faith looks like, as hardly anyone has heard of it before.
Despite being a branch of Christianity, Tadros describes her religion, dating back to the first century, as more traditional, including iconography, hymns and priests — an ancient faith, especially in comparison to Pepperdine’s Church of Christ tradition found on campus: a modern form of Christianity originating in early nineteenth-century American history.
“It can feel very isolating when I feel like I’m the minority in that sense, even though we do all have a shared faith,” Tadros said.
Senior Smayana Kurapati grew up Hindu, after her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1990s. She said she feels grateful that her parents emphasized that Hinduism is not the only religion out there, as they exposed her to different religious backgrounds.
This upbringing shaped a smoother transition for her when arriving at Pepperdine, Kurapti said.
“It was really cool experiencing people or a larger community with people who have different faith backgrounds and seeing the different practices and culture that they focused on,” Kurapati said.
The three mandatory religion classes she took were satisfying, Kurapati said.
“I got really lucky because the professors I had for all three religion classes I took were very good at combining not just Christian points of view, but also other religious points of view,” Kurapati said.
On top of that, Kurapati said she learned about the applications of Christian ideals and how that has affected other religious points of view, allowing her to apply her own faith to the curriculum.
Despite Pepperdine being a primarily Christian campus, Kurapati can easily keep her faith close. Right through Malibu Canyon there is a Hindu Temple Kurapati said she visits on occasion.
Hinduism doesn’t require one to visit the temple regularly, as other religions do, allowing Kurapati to personalize her faith during her time on campus.
As for her personal practice of faith, Kurapati said she starts every day with a Hindu prayer.
“It’s a very good way of grounding me and making sure I understand the values I should continue throughout the day and how I should carry myself,” Kurapati said.
Two worlds: home and Pepperdine
The Hub for Spiritual Life serves the Pepperdine community by offering prayer, spiritual guidance and pastoral counseling, Tim Spivey, vice president for Spiritual Life, wrote in a March 19 email. Staff welcome students of all faith backgrounds at Hub-sponsored events, he added.
“Our programming is distinctly Christian — consistent with Pepperdine’s Christian identity and mission,” Spivey wrote. “For those seeking non-Christian spiritual resources, we happily connect them with resources nearby.”
Campus Minister Falon Barton said her role on campus primarily consists of serving the University Church of Christ. But Barton said she serves students all over campus and her goal is to create a safe space for all students to ask questions and seek guidance.
“I really love walking with all students regardless of what their religious background is or what their current faith identity is,” Barton said.
She interacts with students of all faith backgrounds, but Barton said she spends most of her time with students who don’t directly identify with Christianity. She said the majority of these students identify as atheist or agnostic, though she has interacted with many Jewish and Muslim students as well.
From the conversations she has had with students, she said those who identify more with atheism or agnosticism tend to struggle more in assimilating to the Christian environment on campus.
Although students of other faith identities certainly face struggles, she said she has seen a lot of students enjoy the spiritual environment on campus, despite it being a Christian one.
“It’s not like in other contexts where maybe it is not as welcoming to bring spiritual life, to bring faith identity into conversation and lived experience,” Barton said.
Students said it can be difficult to shift from their practices at home to the dominant style of Christianity on Pepperdine’s campus.
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley of California, Tadros said she finds it to be both a blessing and a curse to be so close to home, as she has to constantly switch between her faith traditions at home and the faith traditions at Pepperdine.
Similar to Tadros, Kurapati’s hometown is not too far from campus — just a short 30-minute drive to Thousand Oaks, California. Kurapati said she primarily goes home for Indian holidays, which occur regularly throughout the year.
During these holidays, Kurapti said she goes to the temple, prays and carries out cultural traditions with her family.
Baruch’s home in Silicon Valley isn’t close enough for weekend trips to see her family, but she said she often reflects on her experience of first arriving in Malibu.
In the Bay Area, Christianity doesn’t have a huge presence, so Baruch never grew up exposed to it before coming to Pepperdine. This caused her to be a bit unsure about what her campus life would be like, she said.
“I remember I saw the big cross driving in and thought, ‘This is going to go so poorly,’” Baruch said.
Baruch said she especially remembers Courtney Bryan-Caron — Caruso Dean Paul Caron’s wife — praying over the students for the start of their new journey as the first big culture shock she experienced.
“Everyone had their hands folded together, heads down,” Baruch said. “I remember all the Jews in the room looked like, ‘What is happening?’”
A place for all
Tadros, Kurapati and Baruch all agreed that feeling like an outsider or minority is a difficult feeling to grapple with. These feelings inspired a search for connection, belonging and conversation on campus.
The difficulty of feeling distant from her faith — and knowing other students were feeling the same way on campus — led Tadros to create the Middle Eastern Student Association this January.
Tadros said MESA has been so important to her, as it combines both of her worlds. Despite starting a few months ago, the club has 70 members, consisting of fully Middle Eastern students, partially Middle Eastern students and students who are not Middle Eastern but are curious about the culture.
Junior Micaela Shackleford is one of the three founding members of “Beyond the Bubble,” a new interfaith initiative for Seaver students. Shackleford helped found the initiative in November 2023 with seniors Colin Wiese and James LaRue.
“All three of us just really wanted to see more spaces on campus where people can connect with people of other faiths and just discuss what interfaith relationships look like in our world and on our campus,” Shackleford said.
The most beautiful thing that has come out of the initiative is it allows students to feel heard and creates a supportive community to have these open conversations, Shackleford said.
“Having these spaces where people get to discuss the importance of interfaith friendship or dialogue, in general, will go on to encourage people to actually engage with other traditions and support students who are from different backgrounds,” Shackleford said.
Baruch hopes to become an international human rights lawyer, which she said requires an understanding of all faiths and cultures.
Because of her own experience as a student outside of the faith majority and the importance of faith conversations in her potential future occupation, Baruch said she wanted to join the Interfaith Council immediately upon arriving at Pepperdine.
“When I got to Pepperdine I asked about joining it, and no one really knew,” Baruch said. “I remember I went to the faculty advisor and asked where the club was, and they responded with, ‘There’s no club, want to be president?’”
After returning from her fall semester abroad in London, Baruch said she decided to bring back the Interfaith Council this semester. There are many separate religious organizations at Caruso, but none of them bring all faiths and beliefs together.
“Those might not be the right club for you, but IFC will always be the right club for you, regardless of who you are,” Baruch said.
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Email Amanda Monahan: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu
