The grand opening of UC Santa Barbara’s new Reflection Room was held on June 1 at the Student Resource Building. Students, staff and community members gathered to celebrate a dedicated sanctuary space on campus. The Reflection Room serves as a place for all students to gather for peaceful reflection, prayer, meditation and de-stressing.
The room is intended to be a communal space open to all UCSB students regardless of faith or tradition. Photo Courtesy of Eemaan Wahidullah
This effort echoes the opening of Reflection Rooms on other UC campuses in recent years, including Los Angeles, Irvine, Santa Cruz, Merced, San Diego, and Davis. The room is located on the second floor of the Student Resource Building (SRB) in room number 2295, and will be open between 8am and 6pm, which are the same hours as the SRB.
The creation of a reflection room has been a direct result of ongoing student advocacy and collaboration with UCSB administration. Representatives of multiple campus organizations including the Muslim Student Association, the Sikh Student Association, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Lebanese Social Club were present at the opening.
According to the Dean of Student Life, Joaquin Becerra, the room is intended to be a communal space open to all UCSB students regardless of faith or tradition.
“Every person deserves access to a place where they can pause, reflect, reconnect and simply be,” Becerra said.
Opening the space is a response to students’ expressed concerns; such as feelings of fear and unsafety faced by minority religious communities. Becerra and several other community members cited the May 18 school shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where two masked gunmen entered an Islamic school and opened fire, killing three people.
“We are opening this room in a moment where many religious communities are carrying fear, grief and uncertainty,” Becerra said.
According to Eemaan Wahidullah, former Associated Students Senator and third-year biology and political science double major, the Reflection Room has been in the making for the past 30 years. During her time as a senator, she and other student advocates worked directly with Becerra to help open the space.
“It is possible to have our needs met on the institutional level,” Wahidullah said.
Wahidullah shared her experience as a student trying to find a safe place to pray on campus.
“We had to pray under janitor’s closets, under the stairs of the library, we had to pray outside,” Wahidullah said. “People would take pictures of us, they’d harass us. It shows us how much this space has been needed for so long.”
Becerra expressed his intention for the Reflection Room to grow and evolve as the needs of students evolve, and that the establishment of the space is aimed at reaching a standard of equity and inclusivity on campus.
“This is a deeply human space that deserves dignity, care and protection,” Becerra said.
The opening of this space is part of a wider multifaith initiative. In March of 2026, the California State Senate passed a resolution recognizing California as a “beacon of multifaith harmony” and dedicating the month of December as Multifaith Heritage Month.
Mahomed Khan, the President of the Multifaith Initiative in Santa Barbara, brought a framed copy of the State Senate resolution to be hung inside the reflection room. He emphasized the frame of mind that students should have when going into the reflection room.
“Having empathy for others teaches us to respect other people’s faith. So whatever is sacred to someone is sacred to them, why debate on it?” Khan said.
