Kaufman Updates
Permanent link for Building Trust and Introducing 'Interfaith' on Campus | By Liz English, Campus Program Manager on September 17, 2024
Last week, Kaufman held its kick-off Multifaith Mixer on a beautiful if unseasonably warm September afternoon. Though we intentionally distanced ourselves from the chaos of Welcome Week by waiting until the third week of classes for our event, the campus was (and is) still very much a-buzz with beginning-of-the-year energy. We set up our activity stations, got the food truck situated, laid out the floor labyrinth and the yard games, and we were ready to go!
In preparing for this event, I had a very simple goal: to provide a space for students to just be together. While I wanted resources to be available to those who were curious about Kaufman, first and foremost, I wanted students to experience what we mean by interfaith.
The stigma surrounding ‘interfaith’ is palpable on campus and results in many students being hesitant, uninterested, or downright put off by the presence of an interfaith organization. Perhaps that is because the students who don’t identify with a particular ‘faith’ may not see their interests represented in an interfaith organization, or because students who are grounded in a particular tradition are weary that interfaith may be intended to lead them away or convert them from what they know, or maybe there is just a general unease around the topic of ‘religion’ being so predominantly discussed in public. I cannot say for sure.
What I have observed is the physical release of tension, the relaxing of the shoulders that follows my elevator-pitch description of how we at Kaufman understand and live into interfaith. Once it becomes clear that we are inviting folks to bring their whole selves into our spaces, to explore where their values come from whether that is from a religious source or otherwise, to share their stories with others, and to learn how diversity in experience and belief can be a boon to collective action and not a detriment… Once this vision takes shape, the barriers begin to come down.
The Multifaith Mixer intentionally allowed students to opt in as they felt comfortable, to grab a meal and get to know each other or to take it with them on their way, to settle in to create a friendship bracelet, play a game, or pick up a conversation card or take some colored pencils home for later. While we view interfaith as necessarily interactive, having opt-in spaces to simply introduce ourselves and to begin to build trust are just as important.
I am confident that at least a handful of the 75+ students who came by last week will feel just a little bit more comfortable joining in some of our future campus experiences, whether that means joining us for our sacred site visits, or attending lectures like our upcoming Faith Over Division conversation, or stopping by the first meeting of the Interfaith Student Council. Hopefully their curiosity has been sufficiently piqued so that when they see our Kaufman tablecloth or our t-shirts or any of our staff around campus, they’ll at least come say hello.
Liz with the board of the Interfaith Student Council - Molly, Franklin, Caitlyn, and Rachel.
Cornhole on the lawn.
Making friendship bracelets.
Elamin with members of the Muslim Students Association.
The Mixer from above