Forrester also will have a bit of added clout as university chaplain. Vanderbilt did away with that title in 2008, when it reorganized the office of religious life.  Reinstating the title is a positive sign that Vanderbilt recognizes that religion on campus matters, Sims-Baker said.  “That word ‘chaplain’ is really important,” he said.

The Rev. John-Sims Baker hasn’t always agreed with Vanderbilt University officials in the past year.

But he’s thrilled with the news that the school named the Rev. Mark Forrester as its new chaplain and director of religious life.

“It is a godsend,” said Sims-Baker, adviser to the Vanderbilt Catholic student group. “When I heard the news, I was surprised and delighted.”

Vanderbilt officials hope that Forrester, whose hiring was announced Wednesday, will end a sometimes heated controversy about religion on campus. More than a dozen student groups, including Vanderbilt Catholic, lost their official status earlier this year for refusing to sign on to the school’s nondiscrimination policy.

The groups require their leaders to hold specific religious beliefs. Vanderbilt officials said that practice violated school policy. The conflict led to accusations that the school was hostile to religion.

Forrester, who’s been a Methodist minister at Vanderbilt for 18 years, disagrees with that claim. He said Vanderbilt supports the spiritual lives of its students.

“I think we have a very open place for all kinds of religious expression and I want to maintain that,” he said.

One of the first tasks for Forrester, who will start his new role Sept. 1, will be to meet with leaders of the groups who lost their status. Many of them have been friends and colleagues for years.

He hopes to get campus religious groups focused on meeting the spiritual needs of students rather than the controversy.

“I believe that we can move beyond this immediate crisis and we can get back to work,” he said.

The Rev. Becca Stevens agrees.

Stevens, Episcopal chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel, helps Forrester lead the Wesley/Canterbury Fellowship, a partnership between Methodists and Episcopalians.

She said that he’s the right person for the job.

“It has been a hard year for religious life at Vanderbilt, and they need a strong and committed voice,” she said. “Mark will be that voice.”

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