Monday night the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) granted official recognition as a student group to the Jewish group, Chabad.
Monday's decision marked the end to a drawn-out process for Chabad, which included failing to correctly define the organization as religious, and problems fitting the group into Tufts policy.
"I am mostly relieved that the process is finally over," junior and group president Esther Volchek said. "It was a long and arduous process but in the end we succeeded in getting the group approved."
"The [TCUJ] is always seeking to enhance the diversity of the Tufts campus and add new student organizations that might fulfill a niche," TCUJ Vice-Chair sophomore Jake Resnicow said. "Clearly, Chabad demonstrated that there was a significant desire for a Chabad student organization to be recognized at Tufts."
"I am happy with this decision and, more importantly, the students are very happy [about the decision]," said Rabbi Tzvi Backman, advisor to the Chabad group. "The students have been working on this since the start of fall semester, and I think it is well worth their effort."
In early March problems also arose with the rules regarding the criteria for a group to be approved by the TCUJ and the Committee on Student Life.
"We were unable [to approve Chabad] because there were some questions regarding the second clause of the TCUJ mandate," Resnicow said.
According to the Pachyderm, "group goals must be consistent with the policies, educational standards and philosophy of Tufts University."
New student groups are subject to University policies, one of which is the Office of the University Chaplain's Policy, stating that it has the right to "approve and clear all religious and spiritual groups and organizations who are seeking recognition at Tufts." The TCUJ delayed its vote once this policy was brought to its attention and the case was taken up by the Office of the University Chaplain.
"We went through a different procedure because Chabad is a religious group," Backman said. "The University Chaplaincy had to vote on it first. That was two months ago."
"We had a lot of problems with the Chabad group fitting into the constitution as set up by University Chaplaincy," said Reverend David O'Leary, the University Chaplain at Tufts. "Once the group fit into those standards, they were accepted by the Chaplaincy." O'Leary had concern that Chabad and Hillel would overlap.
The Tufts University Chaplaincy approved the Chabad group earlier this week. Along with this decision, according to Resnicow, O'Leary and Tufts Associate Chaplain Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, a leading Jewish voice on campus, agreed to be advisors for the group.
"Once I found out that [the Chaplain and the Associate Chaplain] were willing to serve as advisors for the group, and they had given them the OK, I felt very comfortable proceeding with Chabad's recognition," Resnicow said.
Problems also arose regarding how Chabad would fit in with Hillel, the major Jewish organization on-campus which is primarily Reform and Conservative.
Chabad is a more Orthodox-oriented religious group, but Backman said Chabad would not clash with Hillel.
"Chabad is very creative and innovative. It attempts to make the Jewish experience very warm and vibrant," he said. In an interview with the Tufts Daily in February, Backman said that the Chabad Center "looks for ways to make Judaism accessible and interesting" for everyone. The total fallout remains to be seen.
see the correction for this article here
