A thought had just occured to me that I belong to this really cool free online pagan campus that offer classes and give certificates of completion when you have finished the course. They are also in need of some instructors and have a application process for that. I thought I would post a link here for anyone who may be interested in joining or checking out the site. So here is the link: http://www.thepagancampus.net/ I figured that many folks here might find this little campus has a lot to offer for the wide array of interesting folks here on Covenspace! I may be bias, but both this site and the campus are among my top 5 favorite sites!

If you are interested in taking free classes right now they have open enrollent for the second quarter and are offering a few beginners and intermediate courses. I believe registering for classes stop May 12th. Feel free to check it out and join if something sparks your interest. Also, if there is nothing that suits your interest this coming semester, just join anyways, its free and check back each semester to see what's new that is being offered. Its an other great way to get word out to the pagan community and meet like minded folks!

BB ~ Bia Aletheia

This is an article that was on baynews9.com. I wanted to share with you!

Pagan Holidays Added to Excused Absences
Thursday, November 1, 2007

Oct. 31, 2007 at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. Marshall is allowing pagan students to be excused from classes for holidays related to their religion.

By TOM BREEN

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- When George Fain visits a grave to mark a pagan holiday, she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classes at Marshall University. That's because her absence Thursday on the Samhain holiday has been approved by the Huntington school, which for the first time is recognizing pagan students' desire to be excused from class for religious holidays and festivals.

The university with an enrollment of about 14,000 may be the only school in the country to formally protect pagan students from being penalized for missing work that falls on religious holidays, although others have catchall policies they say protect students of every religious faith.

But as members of the eclectic group of faiths gathered under the term "pagan" become more willing to publicly assert their beliefs, other schools may follow Marshall's example, Fain said. "I think we may have opened a door," she said. "Now that we know we can be protected, that the government will stand behind us and we feel safe, it's going to be more prevalent."

The decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work from classes on holidays was simply an extension of existing university policy toward members of other religious groups, said Steve Hensley, Marshall's dean of student affairs. "I don't think there are a lot of students here who have those beliefs, but we want to respect them," he said. "It was really just a matter of looking into it, and deciding what was the right thing."

Students are responsible for establishing that they are religious believers and that the holiday in question is important to their respective tradition by filing a written request with Hensley. The university is aware of the potential for some students to falsely claim to be pagan, he said.

Paganism experts say they aren't aware of any other university with such a policy. A call to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers was not returned Wednesday. Some schools have blanket policies that allow students to be excused for any religious holiday. Lehigh University in Pennsylvania has had such a policy for about eight years, said Lloyd Steffen, a religion professor and the university's chaplain.

Such an accommodation for pagan students is rare in Britain, the birthplace of modern paganism. "Nobody yet gets any holiday for pagan festivals in the United Kingdom. It seems to be an American original," said Ronald Hutton, a history professor at the University of Bristol in England.

By specifically including pagans, Marshall is taking an important step toward recognizing the validity of their beliefs, said Jason Pitzl-Waters, an authority on paganism who edits the Wild Hunt Web site, a blog about religion, politics and culture. "That's part of the struggle for modern pagans," said Pitzl-Waters, a pagan. "Even though modern paganism has been in public since the 1950s, a lot of people still see it as a rebellious teenage activity, not necessarily something you do as a religious observance."

That's starting to change, according to Helen Berger, a sociology professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. She cited the recent decision by the Department of Defense to agree to pagan requests that the five-pointed star _ sometimes called the pentacle _ be allowed on the gravestones of veterans in national cemeteries. "That was a major win, and it's encouraged them to start looking for areas where they can gain the rights and recognition that other religions have," Berger said.

The term "pagan" encompasses a diverse array of faiths that can include Celtic, Druid, Native American and various earth-centered and nature-based beliefs. "What binds us together isn't our theology, necessarily, " Pitzl-Waters said. "What binds us together is a sense of communal practice and togetherness. "Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall and adviser to a group of pagan students, said he's seen fliers advertising pagan meetings ripped down by others. But actions like the university's decision on absences encourage pagans to be more vocal, he said. "You'll have more people now who are willing to say, `These are my beliefs,'" he said. "The American neopagan movement is a lot stronger than you think."