Collegiate Interfaith Directory
K-W
Kenyon
College (Gambier, OH)
Board of Campus
Ministries
The Board of Campus Ministries (BCM) supports religious life at Kenyon
College
and is comprised of those who lead active ministries at the College. This
group includes clergy, campus ministers, the associate dean of students,
and student representatives. The board plans programs and projects of
common interest, helps fund projects proposed by the different religious
groups, and encourages spiritual growth.
Contact: braginm@kenyon.edu
740-427-5228
Lafayette
College
(Easton, PA)
Interfaith
Council
The members
of the Interfaith Council seek to be allies for one another in building
bridges of understanding between the various faith communities and traditions
represented at Lafayette. To that end, the Council seeks to create programming
and venues for discussion that further develop paths of understanding
and mutual respect between persons of all, or no, religious traditions.
Contact: colatchj@lafayette.edu
610-330-5320
Macalester College (St. Paul, MN)
Multifaith
Council
The Macalester Multifaith Council is a body of students drawn from diverse
religious and spiritual traditions seeking to prepare students for leadership
and engagement in a pluralistic and multifaith world. The Council celebrates
religious and spiritual diversity at Macalester College, promotes productive
interaction, and encourages peaceful co-existence.
Contact: forstersmith@macalester.edu
651-696-6298
Millsaps College (Jackson, MS)
Millsaps
College Campus Ministry Team
The Millsaps College Campus Ministry Team (CMT) is an ecumenical and interfaith
group. CMT is an umbrella organization that plans and implements community
service, dialogue, and worship opportunities for the campus. The College
Chaplain advises this student led organization.
Contact: chaplain@millsaps.edu
601-974-1205
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
Religious Life
Council
The Religious Life Council is a fellowship of Princeton University students
who are committed to fostering conversation between all religious faiths
at Princeton as well as at the national and international level. The Council
holds weekly roundtable discussions that include topics such as religion
and art, conversion, modesty, and the death penalty. It works with the
residential colleges and other centers and academic offices on campus
to encourage student participation in discussion about religion at Princeton.
Additionally, Council members publish an annual, campus-wide interfaith
journal entitled “Coming Together” and spend their intercession
break at a week-long, off-campus retreat to allow time for deep spiritual
reflection and sharing.
Contact: dkblanks@princeton.edu
609-258-3621
University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA)
Religious
Organizations Council
The Religious Organizations Council (ROC) consists of student reps from the different religious life clubs on campus (Baha’i, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian Science, Evangelical Christian, Jewish, Latter-Day Saints, Muslim, Pagan, Progressive Christian, and Unitarian). The Council meets every other week to talk about upcoming events and both learn about one another and plan opportunities for the broader campus to take part in such discussions. In addition, it arranges for speakers, forum events, and other dialogues about interfaith culture and community. An "Interfaith 101" takes place at least once each year, in which the ROC reps field any questions about their religious tradition. The New Light Festival, a recently inaugurated event, celebrates a wide range of winter spiritual observances from the world traditions. The Council receives staff support from the University Chaplain, who works with students and clubs of all religious and spiritual backgrounds.
Contact:
dwright@ups.edu
253-879-3374
Rice University (Houston, TX)
Boniuk
Center
The Boniuk Center co-sponsors events that foster understanding and respect
across the boundaries of religion, and is particularly eager to support
events that will draw a diverse audience and that are co-sponsored by
organizations representing different religious communities. Because discussions
of religion, religious difference, and tolerance provoke strong feelings
and heated debate, the Center works with community partners to create
a hospitable atmosphere so that all people, especially those who disagree
with the program or speaker, feel welcome and invited to participate.
The Boniuk Center believes that facing up to religious differences is
a step towards peaceful co-existence.
Contact: quillen@rice.edu
713-348-2269
University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
The
Religious Roundtable
The Religious Roundtable (RR) is made up of students and a student intern
to lead the group. It meets weekly during college semesters to promote
understanding and religious diversity through constructive dialogue and
campus-wide programs. Some of the educational and service oriented programs
include Tale-a-bration, a storytelling event discussing the traditions
of each faith; service projects to turn interfaith dialogue into action;
and the annually-held Celebration of Religious Diversity. Chaplains and
students participate by either doing a faith reading, prayer, dance, song,
or playing a musical instrument. Additionally, Hot Button Dialogue offers
a chance for open dialogue in a non-threatening environment on a controversial
current issue that touches religion.
Contact: dmaster@mail.rochester.edu;
zalwan@mail.rochester.edu
585-275-2757
Smith
College (Northampton, MA)
Helen Hills Chapel’s
Interreligious Programs
The staff of the Helen Hills Chapel at Smith College sponsors a variety
of interreligious programs for students at Smith College. These vary each
year and include many on themes of peace and social justice. Examples
are Interfaith Retreats, Interfaith Lunch Discussions, "Hot Seat"
Ethics Panels, Hunger Awareness "Banquet," Interfaith Worship,
Spiritual-i-TEA's with Chaplains and faculty, and interfaith dialogues
in student residences. These programs are organized on an ad hoc basis
by groups of students and staff interested in each event, as each year
students elect a core committee of religious life liaisons from each residence
hall to plan events.
Contact: habuza@email.smith.edu
413-585-4326
University of Southern California (USC) (Los Angeles, CA)
Interfaith
Council
The student-led Interfaith Council serves as the umbrella group for all
student religious organizations, representing their interests and advocating
for them, and planning events for students of all faith backgrounds (or
none). The Interfaith Council is a group of 24 students chosen by their
peers to represent the many traditions of spiritual belief and practice
of groups functioning at USC. Weekly meetings are held to discuss programming
and to engage in interfaith dialogue. These discussions include topics
such as “What kinds of things do we share in common with people
of other faiths? What exactly is religious pluralism? What happens if
we find we want to date someone from another faith?” Programming
includes collaboration with the Office of Religious Life for the annual
Multi-Faith Celebration and the Religion on Campus week, and “immersion
events,” in which two groups from different places on the religious
spectrum visit one another’s events or religious rituals, inviting
discussion and questions.
Contact:
ejld@usc.edu
213-740-6110
Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX)
Interfaith
Dialogue
The discussion group meets weekly to talk about different issues and ideas
that are meaningful to the students involved. Interfaith dialogue brings
diverse students of differing religious and cultural backgrounds together
to discuss issues of faith, religion, culture, and spirituality from a
variety of viewpoints. Students attracted to this group are especially
interested in learning about other peoples’ perspectives and the
way different religious traditions and cultural groups approach basic
life questions and concerns. Interfaith Dialogue is sponsored by the Office
of Religious Life.
Contact: rohrea@southwestern.edu
512-863-1965
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
Interfaith
Center
The Interfaith Center is intended to promote dialogue and understanding
among faith traditions, and between people of faith and those who do not
belong to a faith tradition. Student Interfaith Interns organize and plan
programs and activities, and foster communication between different faith
groups on campus. Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant professionals currently
serve as the Religious Advisors. The Advisors are available as counselors,
resources and friends regardless of students’ religious affiliations.
Advisors also conduct services, lead text study groups, coordinate programs,
assist student religious organizations, and work with the Dean’s
staff.
Contact: rsl@swarthmore.edu
610-328-8487
Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX)
Interfaith
Council
The Interfaith Council (IFC) is a student organization comprised of students
interested in and representing the various faith traditions at TCU in
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and throughout the global community. The Council’s
purpose is to promote campus-wide understanding and respect of diverse
spiritual beliefs by means of communication, dialogue, education, and
advocacy. Representatives, though not formally appointed from each tradition,
are passionate about the role religion and faith play in daily life and
the powerful mosaic such diversity of beliefs makes up. Aside from weekly
gatherings, which often include film viewings and discussions, there are
monthly outings to local places of worship to learn about other traditions
firsthand. Every spring IFC gathers scholars, clergy, and religious leaders
from diverse communities for a week-long series of panel discussions on
various faith traditions. In addition, IFC hosts a yearly Interfaith Arts
Festival, in which diverse faiths are made visual.
Contact: a.b.gamwell@tcu.edu
Interfaith@tcu.edu
Trinity College (Hartford, CT)
Interfaith
House
The Interfaith House was established to provide a gathering place for
members of the Trinity Community of all faiths, or no faith, to engage
in open and honest dialogue, encounter one another's religious traditions,
and build community. It consists of two floors, the upper level providing
office space for Hindu, Muslim, Protestant Christian (Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship) and Roman Catholic (Newman club) organizations, and the ground
floor serving as a space for community meals, Bible study groups, and
meetings. Individual students also use the Interfaith House as a quiet
place to study and relax.
Tufts
University (Medford, MA)
Pathways
Pathways is a new program on campus that aims to promote tolerance and
understanding across religious and cultural groups on campus. Funded by
a federal grant, the project is the result of the leadership and vision
of a consortium of partners, representing student organizations and faculty
members from across the university. This initiative features two dialogue
seminars offered for full credit through the Experimental College: The
Power of Narrative: Exploring the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict through
Literature, and Film and Pathways to Faith: Religious Pluralism Dialogue.
The Power of Narrative explores how narrative informs and shapes the views
of the different characters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile,
Pathways to Faith explores the beliefs and traditions of the three faiths,
as well as their different views on contemporary issues, such as gender
roles, humankind’s relation to the environment, and the connection
between religion and the state. In addition, students can get involved
in Pathways by joining the steering and planning committees. These committees
guide and plan programming such as an annual retreat in the fall, a speaker
series, celebratory dinners, and Interfaith Awareness Week in the spring.
Contact: shai.fuxman@tufts.edu,
najiba.akbar@tufts.edu
617-627-3427
Vanderbilt
University
(Nashville, TN)
Interfaith
Council
The Vanderbilt Interfaith Council is a student organization representing
various faith traditions whose purpose is to promote campus-wide understanding
and respect of diverse spiritual beliefs by means of communication, dialogue,
education, and advocacy. Primary annual activities that work towards these
goals are the Interfaith Panel and the Interfaith Music and Culture Night.
The Council is in a position to advocate for various religious groups
by means of its seat on the Student Government Association.
Contact: debra.j.flowers@vanderbilt.edu
615-322-2457
Washington
and Lee University
(Lexington, VA)
Multi
Faith Council
The Multi Faith Council meets bi-monthly to plan, implement and evaluate
programs, one of which is interfaith dialogue.
Contact: BDatz@wlu.edu
540-458-4045
Wellesley
College
(Wellesley, MA)
Multifaith
Student Council and Multifaith Team
The Multifaith Student Council, comprised of two student representatives
from each religion represented at Wellesley, is a central part of the
policy and program team of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
The committee meets regularly to discuss religious and spiritual issues
affecting Wellesley students, plan joint worship and program activities,
and advise the Dean on policy matters for religious life at Wellesley.
The Multifaith Team is comprised of chaplains and advisors currently representing
the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic
Christian and Unitarian Universalist religious traditions. Together with
the Dean and the Assistant to the Dean, this team meets weekly for discussion,
prayer/meditation and program planning. Through this collective work the
religious life team models a new way of working towards common goals while
respecting and celebrating difference and diversity.
Contact: klewis@wellesley.edu
781-283-2685
