You too can take part in the Obama challenge at Taste of Religion, 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 22

TACOMA, Wash. – In March 2011 President Obama posed a challenge to almost 6,000 universities, colleges, and community colleges across the country. This academic year University of Puget Sound is answering that call.

The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge asks institutes of higher education to commit one year toward building understanding among people of all faiths and beliefs. Exactly how they do it is up to them, though President Obama asked that it involve some kind of community work that would put people of different faiths side-by-side, as they turn their hands to helping others.

“Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together,” Obama says on the Web page of his White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the Capitol Hill office that organized the campus challenge.

At University of Puget Sound, President Ronald R. Thomas responded promptly to the challenge. A comprehensive plan of action, including support from across campus, was compiled by the Office of Spirituality, Service and Social Justice and Academic Vice President’s Office and sent to the White House by the June 24 deadline.

“Partnership with our community and a commitment to diverse perspectives have consistently been high on our list of priorities,” Thomas said. “To now join a national initiative aiming to build understanding among Americans and to contribute to improving the lives of those around us is exactly the kind of opportunity that energizes and inspires our students and other campus members. We are looking forward to meeting this challenge in the year ahead.”

Puget Sound is among about 250 colleges and universities from across the country that have been accepted into the White House challenge program. The Puget Sound plan includes a wealth of initiatives—some new, some existing— focused on addressing domestic poverty and educational opportunities.

Everyone on campus will have an opportunity to be a part of this American presidential challenge on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 5 p.m., when a “Taste of Religion” feast will be held in the piano room of Wheelock Student Center. Tasty and free dishes, representative of diverse religions and cultures, will be on offer.

David Wright, Puget Sound chaplain and director of the Office of Spirituality, Service and Social Justice, attended the White House kickoff of the challenge on Aug. 3. He says that clearly each religion is very different, but that does not mean people cannot work together.

“The goal is not to achieve some common, generic spirituality, but to come and bring who you are into the conversation,” he explained. “We will have dozens of opportunities for campus members to contribute, through projects including youth mentorships, community gardening, the Hunger Walk, personal leadership challenges, a pen pal project, educational workshops, and assistance to seniors, to name just a few.”

Next year the higher education institutions judged to have implemented the most effective one-year programs will be recognized by the White House at an event in Washington, D.C.

At Puget Sound 15 campus offices and organizations, ranging from the Division of Student Affairs to Dining and Conference Services, and 11 student organizations, including Kids Can Do, Mortar Board, the Interfaith Council, and the Black Student Union have committed to be engaged in the effort. Puget Sound will pursue the challenge through numerous measures. A small sample are:

  • giving a poverty and education focus to programs such as students’ Alternative Break, Hunger Week, the Hunger Walk, and religious life volunteer activities
  • a new collaborative learning program, led by Department of Religion Chair Stuart Smithers, involving students and women in Washington Corrections Center for Women
  • Justice and Service in Tacoma (JuST) will focus on addressing issues of poverty and education in the Tacoma community
  • Community Involvement and Action Center will connect Puget Sound students with local K-12 students with specific needs, through programs such as tutoring and mentoring
  • the Service and Social Justice Pathway will give individual students the opportunity to blend volunteerism with critical personal reflection through a network of programs. It also will connect more than 1,500 campus members to civic engagement and interfaith issues through the Community Service Online list-serve.
  • faculty and staff workshops are planned to build on interfaith understanding, plus opportunities to take part in relevant community activities
  • educational campaigns, including speakers and events, to encourage students’ understanding of different religions and cultures
  • a new interfaith blog will follow the experiences of students involved in the challenge

 

To find out about opportunities to participate in the challenge contact student lead Rebecca Short at rshort@pugetsound.edu

A website with more information is forthcoming and will be linked to the Office of Spirituality, Service and Social Justice Web page https://www.pugetsound.edu/student-life/spirituality-service/

For more about President Obama’s challenge: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ofbnp/interfaithservice

Photos on page: Top right: President Obama at Forsyth Technical Community College in North Carolina, December 2010 (Photo: The White House); Above left: Freshmen help at L'Arche Farm during Urban Plunge (Photo: Ross Mulhausen); Above right: Puget Sound student tutors a Tacoma student through Empowerment Through Collaboration program (Photo: CIAC); Sarah Egger-Weiler '14 and Ameneh McCullough '14 sew stuffed animals for homeless children; Above right: Professor Stuart Smithers gives a talk on prisons at Homecoming & Family Weekend 2011 (Photos: Ross Mulhausen).

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