Chabad at Tufts, a new Jewish group seeking official Tufts recognition, was surprised Monday night when the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) announced that they would be unable to deliberate the issue until the Tufts Chaplaincy approved the group.
At a last-minute meeting Monday afternoon, Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, Director of the Office of Student Activities Jodie Nealley and TCUJ Vice-Chair sophomore Jake Resnicow found that as a spiritual group, Chabad must receive clearance by the University Chaplaincy before it can meet with the TCUJ.
According to Resnicow, this is based on Committee on Student Life (CSL) guidelines which "suggest" that all organizations must follow Tufts' policies. Therefore, the Office of the University Chaplain's policy which states that the Chaplain's office "will approve and clear all religious and spiritual groups and organizations who are seeking recognition at Tufts," takes precedence over any TCUJ decision.
Nealley, Reitman and Resnicow concluded that the TCUJ could only deliberate after the Chaplaincy makes a decision. The TCUJ had previously planned to make the decision at their Monday night meeting.
The Monday afternoon meeting was initiated by Reitman. TCUJ Chair senior Shaharris Beh was also invited but was unable to attend.
According to Beh, the postponement of a ruling on Chabad contradicts the understanding reached last fall in a meeting he had with Nealley, University Chaplain Father David O'Leary and Rabbi Jeff Summit, University Jewish chaplain and executive officer of the Hillel Foundation at Tufts.
At a meeting held before Chabad had begun the recognition process, Beh said that O'Leary told him repeatedly "that approving Chabad would be setting a 'dangerous precedent.'"
Chabad at Tufts is a new student group being proposed by Jewish students who were inspired by the activities and programming at the Chabad House, located a few blocks away from the Tufts campus. The students plan on working with the house, possibly with its director, Rabbi Tzvi Backman, acting as an advisor to the group.
Junior Esther Volchek, president of the proposed Chabad group, said yesterday that they will have to think about their next step. She is planning to meet with the TCUJ to see exactly what procedure the group should follow to pursue group recognition.
"I know the rules right now are very, very hazy, but we all want this to work out for the best," she said.
As of yesterday morning, O'Leary was uncertain as to what would happen next in the recognition process, as he said he was uninformed of the decision regarding Chabad. O'Leary said he has not faced a situation like this since he took his current position in 1998.
The procedure with the University Chaplaincy would most probably be informal and involve discussion as to how to best meet the student needs presented by the Chabad group, Reitman said.
If the Chaplaincy finds that Chabad represents a population that is not being served and cannot be served by the current staff of associate chaplains, O'Leary can extend the associate chaplaincy designation to whomever he feels represents and supports them, Reitman said. The creation of a Muslim chaplain is the most recent example of a solution of this sort.
Previous to the TCUJ decision on Monday, O'Leary was skeptical that the Chabad group could prove that they do not fit under the Hillel umbrella.
"My office views it as duplication [with Hillel]," O'Leary said. "They would have to go a long way to show they are not duplicating."
Summit emphasized the warm feelings between Chabad and Hillel. Summit said that Hillel's mission is to provide support for all Jewish students, and that any proposals from students dissatisfied with the current programming would be welcome.
But Volchek said she feels that there is enough difference between Chabad which is based on the teachings of Jewish mysticism and Hillel that they should constitute a separate group. In a letter explaining these differences to the TCUJ, she highlighted that the group feels that "becoming a sub-group of Hillel would undermine its mission and prevent the organization from thriving and serving the Tufts community to its fullest potential."
Beyond the problem of duplication, there is also the sensitive issue of off-campus organizations opening campus branches. Both Reitman and O'Leary expressed wariness at having student groups that answer to outside organizations.
The guidelines for recognition of new groups require that groups' constitutions clarify "the extent to which members of the Tufts community who are not members of the organization may participate."
O'Leary emphasized the need to keep off-campus organizations from getting on campus. "It is a very serious thing if outside religious groups start tapping into student funding," he said.
"I'm not stopping anyone from going off-campus," he said. "They are free to work under Hillel and they are free to work off-campus." O'Leary was adamant, however, that off-campus organizations that are not Tufts-based cannot become student groups.
According to Volchek, each Chabad house is a separate house, unaffiliated with each other.
Funding for the Chabad House is raised independently of the central organization. Currently, according to Backman, the activities of his center are funded by private donations.
The larger Chabad-Lubavitch organization, based in New York, is a type of Jewish Hassidic movement. The local center is run by Backman and his wife Channie. They began the center three years ago in order to provide a space for Jewish students to examine their identity.
Since the Chabad House opened near Tufts, Hillel and the new group have worked together on several occasions.
Another concern of O'Leary's was the recruitment tactics used by religious groups. "There's no proselytizing or trying to make people uncomfortable," he said. O'Leary pointed out that Chabad takes a stricter view of Jewish law than a Reform Jew would, and he questioned whether their vocal and proactive attitude would not make people uncomfortable.
In an interview last month, Backman emphasized that his Chabad Center "looks for ways to make Judaism accessible and interesting," and that they seek to find "ways for Jews to connect to Judaism."
