For years, the Muslim population of Eastern Mennonite University has been growing. Reflecting the broader demographic shifts in Harrisonburg, and the country as a whole, the campus has been slowly diversifying. In the 2025-26 school year, there are 45 self-identified Muslim students attending EMU, including those in the Intensive English Program (IEP) and graduate programs. That number has been growing since 2020, when there were only 14 Muslim students.

According to Trina Trotter Nussbaum, the director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement (CIE) on campus, although there has been significant growth in the number of Muslim students at EMU recently, those students have been a part of the campus for years – and many of them are locals, having attended area high schools. “We just are a place that really reflects the richness and the diversity of the city that we live in,” Nussbaum said. “And that includes a lot of Muslim students.”

With the long-term presence of Muslim students, the idea for a Muslim Student Alliance (MSA) has been percolating for a while, according to Brian Martin Burkholder, the EMU Chaplain. He shared, “For a number of years, Trina Trotter Nussbaum and I, with our two offices, we’ve wondered, is it time for a Muslim Student Alliance?”

This year, the decision reached a tipping point. “The Center for Interfaith Engagement and [Office of] Faith and Spiritual Life (FSL) hosted a lunch for Muslim students this fall – students from IEP, and also undergrads and graduate students,” Burkholder said.

At that lunch, two first-year undergraduate students, Zainab Kamran and Ajmir Nazari, asked the room whether there would be interest in establishing a MSA. “Everybody said yes,” Nazari shared. 

Kamran said over email that with the assistance of Nussbaum, Burkholder, and Miranda Beidler, a student chaplain who assisted in writing the club constitution, “the process [of starting the club] has been incredibly smooth.”

“I talked to Brian [Burkholder] and Zainab [Kamran],” Nazari said, “and went, ‘I have this plan, what do you think we should do?’” After securing that institutional support, Kamran and Nazari checked in with other students. Nazari said, “We talked to [upperclassmen Muslim students], and they were like, ‘we never thought to make a club.’”

Although the CIE and FSA have been thinking about a MSA for years, Nussbaum shared that like any other club, “It’s student run, student led, student initiated.” Without students interested in forming and leading the organization, nothing could be done. This year, though, “Zainab [Kamran] and Ajmir [Nazari] really have the energy for this,” she said. 

When asked about the motivation for forming the MSA, Nazari explained, “When I first came here, I saw other clubs like LSA [Latino Student Alliance] and BSA [Black Student Alliance], and I wondered why there wasn’t a Muslim club here.” He continued, “We wanted to make this club so that Muslim students can come talk to us, so we can talk to other people about what’s going on, about what they want, and make a safe space for everyone.”

Kamran shared, “As a Muslim student, I saw a couple of other Muslim students on campus, but there was no sense of community among us. We barely knew each other well. MSA was our answer to bridging this gap.”

“It is necessary to establish [the] MSA to provide a sense of community and support to Muslim students on campus,” Kamran said. “And of course, we need it for some fun group activities.” On Feb. 9, Kamran and Nazari will seek approval from the Student Government Association to officially form the Muslim Student Alliance. Looking into the future, the next few weeks will be busy for the fledgling club. “Ramadan is coming up in February … then after that is Eid, which is a big festival after Ramadan – it’s a big feast for three days,” Nazari said. “We have some big plans for that.”