Puget Sound was recently accepted as one of 250 schools across the nation to participate in President Obama’s “The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenege.”
The challenge began in June of 2010 when, at the recommendation of the President’s Advisory Council for Neighborhood and Faith-Based Initiatives, the White House invited a group of leaders (including our own University Chaplain, David Wright) from the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) and the Association of College and University Religious Affairs (ACURA) to explore how the White House can partner with institutions of higher education to encourage religiously and spiritually diverse communities to engage in community service projects together. From this the President’s challenge was born in the late spring of 2011, to which the University submitted a proposal. This past July, the University was selected as one of the 250 successful proposals and Wright returned to the capitol, where Puget Sound’s “Religious Leadership pathway,” meant to help students connect with and develop skills in tradition-specific or interreligious leadership while attending Puget Sound was one of three proposals specifically praised by Mr. DuBois.
The core goal of this challenge is to connect students of different religions and spiritual beliefs together to work towards a common goal. At Puget Sound, this initiative is spear-headed by the offices of Multicultural Student Services (MCSS) and Spirituality, Service, and Social Justice (SSSJ). Staff and student leaders involved with MCSS, SSSJ, the Interfaith Youth Council, the Christian Faith Council, and the JuST program (Justice and Service in Tacoma) are focusing on this year’s goal of solving domestic hunger, poverty, and education in our local community. The Hunger Walk that took place this past Sunday the 2nd was an effort sponsored in part by the President’s challenge.
Given Puget Sound’s unique community, the White House’s initiative works a little differently for our campus than it does for bigger campuses like George Washington University or Stanford. Given the size of our student body, the number of students involved in the religious community on campus is relatively small compared to larger schools, which have massive student religious organizations. The goal of the initiative, then, is to network the many small groups we have and coordinate members to attend other groups’ meetings, celebrate holidays together, and sponsor events. As part of this, on September 22nd the university sponsored the “Taste of Religion” event in the Piano Lounge of the SUB, showcasing a number of different delicacies of the different religious beliefs represented on campus.
When student leads Rebecca Short and Mary Krauszer were asked about their involvement with the initiative, both made sure to emphasize that this challenge is not mean to exclude those who do not identify with a specific religion or faith. Rebecca Short, student lead for the President’s challenge, remarked that given UPS community “it’s a struggle to involve people who don’t see religious dialogue as being relevant.” Krauszer, SSSJ student staff member and Interfaith Coordinator on the Interfaith Council at UPS, emphasized that “Without trying to stifle, or deceive, or hide from anyone that this is about religious pluralism, [we don’t want to turn away those without faiths].” Indeed, as President Barack Obama noted in his address “an act of service can unite people of all faiths – or even no faith – around a common purpose of helping those in need. In doing so we can not only better our communities, we can build bridges of understanding between ourselves and our neighbors.”
Keeping with the theme of the challenge, SSSJ and MCSS will be sponsoring a holiday event this holiday season entitled “New Light,” showcasing the different ways communities celebrate the Winter Solstice. For more information about the President’s challenge, how UPS is working to better our local community through interfaith cooperation, or information on how to get involved, contact David Wright at dwright@pugetsound.edu.