General
Group Name:
Interfaith@MIT
President's Name:
Leanna Morinishi
President's Username:
leanna
Treasurer's Name:
Nina Sinatra
Treasurer's Username:
nina
Initial Membership: (usernames of at least 5 MIT students who will join the group)
nsinatra
deeni
fsafir
arfa
bmm515
afrah
Statement of Purpose
Why are you, the founders, starting the group?
The purpose of Interfaith@MIT is to catalyze relationships between religious groups on campus and to invite the MIT community to take notice and take part in activities that reach across cultural, intellectual and religious bounds. Specifically, Interfaith strives towards the following goals:
- Interfaith Catalyst
*: To bring religious or belief groups on campus together, two at a time, to deepen understanding and cultivate respect at both the religious and personal level; to involve the MIT community in casual activities on campus between peoples of different beliefs; to promote interfaith and faith-specific events on campus and encourage attendance from all belief groups.
- Common Action
*: To organize interfaith cooperation through projects such as service-learning and social action that will influence both personal attitudes and the bonds of a community through a common goal and a positive collective experience.
- Faith Focus
*: To celebrate the diverse and remarkable people on campus, showcasing one belief group at a time through a brief cultural or intellectual presentation to foster understanding between peoples.
How is this group unique? Could the ASA find similarities with other groups? If so, why should this group obtain recognition? What are the differences?
This group is very unique. There is no other interfaith-focused group on campus. The one program that the ASA might see as similar to Interfaith@MIT is the "Addir Fellows Program" organized through the Division of Student Life and run by Ora Gladstone. Throughout the application and starting-up process, Interfaith has worked very closely with Ora for insight and advice, and not only has she agreed that our methodology of fostering interfaith understanding and relationships is fundamentally different, but she has been the biggest advocate of us founding this group so far.
The main difference between the well-established Addir and what Interfaith hopes to accomplish is that Addir fosters deeper intellectual understanding between individuals of different faiths through small group discussions, where Interfaith hopes to bring the established religious groups on campus together through community service and collaborative informative events for the greater MIT community. While our goals of fostering interfaith understanding and mutual respect are the same, our methods are completely different. Interfaith@MIT holds that interfaith cooperation such as service-learning and social action that facilitates meaningful encounters between peoples is the most effective way to transform negative stereotypes.
Why does the group need ASA recognition? What resources do you expect to use?
First, the ability to attend and advertise at the ASA Activities Midways throughout the year would help us not only recruit new, excited members, but also give the religious community at MIT a fresh and welcoming quality. Even if someone's specific belief group does not exist on campus, Interfaith can be proof of MIT's active endeavor to make all students feel comfortable and part of an approachable community on campus.
Second, many of our events throughout the year would require us to reserve rooms, and we would appreciate this ability through recognition as an ASA group. We would also like to apply for money from the Fresh Fund for our first interfaith events on campus.
Lastly, this group requires ASA recognition to exist as a legitimate platform for bringing religious groups on campus together. We plan on organizing many interfaith events throughout the academic year, and being an official club at MIT as opposed to a disorganized group of students would facilitate our communications with the chaplains as well as the belief groups on campus.
How do you plan to fund the group?
Initially, we hope to receive money from the Fresh Fund for publicity and our first general body meeting. We would apply for the funding available to ASA groups for club events such as panels, faith focus dinners, casual hot chocolate nights in the religious building, interfaith dinners, and cultural presentations. Beyond that, we would work together with specific religious groups on campus and the Division of Student Life to help bring in speakers or for any larger event.
What type of events or meetings will the group have? Give specific examples.
We plan on organizing dinners between two MIT religious groups at a time, inviting their chaplains as well, so that they eat together and discuss facets of religion. For example, we plan on a dinner between the Buddhist and Christian communities on campus for general conversation and a discussion on forgiveness and the existence of an individual self. In this way we hope to invite a larger number of MIT students to become involved in interfaith activities that don't stray too far from their comfort zone.
We also plan on bi-monthly, small casual events where all of MIT's religious groups and their chaplains are invited to free cookies, brownies and hot chocolate (made edible for as many dietary restrictions as possible) in the religious building, and light personal discussion on any and all topics, religious or no. The purpose of these events are to introduce individuals to each other, and become comfortable talking about topics other than religious differences.
Additionally, we plan on regular events that highlight a religious group on campus. In a brief (1/2 hour) presentation accompanied with lunch, one religious group is given the time to talk about the basic tenets of their beliefs and showcase their religion in any way they feel is necessary. This could range from a worship demonstration to a deeper discussion on more confusing aspects of the faith. The purpose of these events are to give basic understanding of different faiths and to demonstrate the diverse peoples MIT has on her campus.
Lastly, we plan on bringing MIT's religious organizations and students together through collaborative community service. We plan on organizing regular projects or service trips to foster fraternity between students of different religions, based on the following idea:
"From now on, the great religions of the world will no longer declare war on each other, but on the giant ills that afflict [humankind]." - Charles Bonney, 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions
Who is the intended audience of the group?
The intended audience of the group is any and all members of the MIT community, but targeting those that are involved in their respective religious organizations on campus. The MIT collective outside of these groups, however, is highly encouraged to join and diversify the depth of our understanding and the breadth of our community.
How do you plan to recruit new members?
We plan to recruit new members through (a) asking religious organizations to advertise within their group, (b) attending religious services or text studies to introduce ourselves and invite people to join, (c) sending out emails for our general body meetings to dorm lists and religious announce lists, (d) distributing posters around the campus, and (e) by setting up a booth at the ASA Activities Midways throughout the year to encourage new members.
How large do you expect the group to become? Why?
We hope to include as many people as are interested in religion and interfaith activities in the MIT community. We expect to start off relatively small, but increase in membership as we talk to more people, and as we involve more religious groups on campus in our interfaith activities. We hope to become a group of ~50 members not counting the belief groups on campus that are involved regularly in our events.
What has already been accomplished?
We have already written our constitution and voted on preliminary leadership. We have 14 enthusiastic members who are excited to begin and truly believe in the interfaith cause. We have a wiki on wikis.mit.edu that is open to viewership and will hold our first few announcements and events before we put together a website on scripts.mit.edu. We are working on organizing our first Faith Focus and our first interfaith dinner for Fall 2011, and developing our logo and flyers for publicity.