Student Voices
By Allison Schneider

This reflection was written by Fordham University undergraduate student Allison Schneider, FCRH ’26 as part of the The Chynn Undergraduate Ethics Summer Research Scholarship.

Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work with Professor Orit Avishai and several other amazing undergraduate students on a research project investigating the role of religion in the American legal system. Our project, supported by the Fordham Center for Ethics Education through their Chynn Undergraduate Ethics Summer Research Scholarship, was formative for me as a young academic and has opened doors for me both at Fordham and beyond. 

My work on the project was largely concerned with the advancement of 15 different state legislative bills that would permit public schools to employ religious chaplains to serve as counselors for public school students. I read pages of legislation, listened to hours of legislative debate, and read testimony from various individuals and organizations expressing their support or disapproval of the bills. I also tracked the progress of each of the bills through a detailed spreadsheet outfitted with dates, current status, bill sponsors, and more. 

This kind of research and deep analysis of primary sources was largely new to me. The learning experience itself has been invaluable in shaping how I conduct future research and it has inspired me to consider career paths that would allow me to continue doing research-driven work. My research also introduced me to several advocacy organizations that push back against the kind of legislation I studied, legislation that would permit religious influence over public schools. 

One of these organizations, a D.C.-based group called Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) is a vocal advocate for religious freedom and sees the separation of church and state as one of the nation’s founding principles that helps uphold religious freedom for all. Each year the AU sponsors an essay contest for high school and undergraduate college students to submit work explaining their own experiences with the separation of church and state. This year’s topic was religious freedom in public schools.

When I saw the topic announcement, I knew I had to submit an essay. The research I had been working diligently on all summer was exactly the sort of issue AU was asking us students to think about. Using materials from my summer research, I crafted an essay that summarized the work I had done and explained how my Catholic upbringing originally sparked my interest in the topic. A few months after I submitted my essay, I received an email from Alicia Johnson, the National Organizer and Student Network Manager at AU, congratulating me for winning second place in their undergraduate essay contest!

AU graciously awards their student essay contest winners with a cash prize and features them and their work on their website each year. They also provide winners with a generous scholarship to attend the annual Summit for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. I couldn’t be more excited to attend the conference and to see my work recognized online, and I owe a huge thank you to the Center for Ethics Education and to Professor Avishai, along with the other student researchers on our team, for providing me the resources and support necessary to enter (and win!) a contest like this. 

Link to Winners Page: https://www.au.org/au-student-contest-winners-2024/ 
Link to Essay: https://www.au.org/the-latest/articles/donuts-and-bibles-religious-freedom-in-public-schools/