Tufts' new Interfaith Center, originally slated to open by the beginning of this semester, is scheduled to be up and running by September.
Located at 58 Winthrop Street, it will replace the former Catholic Center and provide a gathering space for all religious faiths.
According to University Chaplain David O'Leary, the project has been in the works since the university purchased the Catholic Center from the Archdiocese of Boston in the summer of 2004.
In order to justify the costs of renovating the building, administrators decided that it should serve all religious faiths instead of just Catholics.
"The university didn't want to pour money into something that was just for one religious group," according to O'Leary, who said that the Board of Trustees approved $1.4 million for the project.
Construction of the new center, which started around a month ago, is "well underway," Tufts' Associate Catholic Chaplain Ann Penick said.
Renovations to the old building are going to be fairly extensive. "The whole front third is being re-done," O'Leary said. "It's going to be very artistically beautiful."
Work will also be done in the basement, which will feature a gathering area, a large conference room and a space for prayer and meditation, and offices for the Catholic, Muslim and Protestant chaplains, O'Leary said. The Granoff Family Hillel Center will still be the home for Jewish cultural and religious activities. An elevator will transport students to the top floor, which will include storage areas and a glass tower overlooking Winthrop Street.
Unlike Goddard Chapel, with its explicitly Christian decor, the new center will not "have any permanent religious symbols," Oleary said, since it is meant to be a functional space for all religious groups.
"It shows the University's commitment for people to have a proper worship space where all groups will feel comfortable," O'Leary said.
Senior Louisa May Zouein, one of three senior leaders of the Tufts Christian Fellowship, which is one of two Protestant student organizations on campus, said that since the group never had the luxury of a center, the new space will be "a real perk." Zouein hopes that the center's cooperative spirit will produce positive results. "It might be nice to have everyone together so we could all run into each other more," she said.
Tufts Associate Muslim Chaplain Noureddine Hawat, however, said that he cannot help but feel skeptical about the new facility.
He said he has been only minimally informed about the details of the center. "We have no idea on how it's going to be run," he said. "We'll just have to wait and see what they're going to provide."
Still, Hawat did not rule out the possibility of the center succeeding. "We hope things will be better," he said.
All chaplains are at the very least happy that they will have more space available to them when the center opens.
Catholics have truly felt the loss of their center ever since they had to vacate it before the beginning of this year. According to Penick, while the Catholic Community at Tufts (CCT) has been able to hold many successful large events in spaces like Dewick, smaller events, such as previously held weekly dinners, presented problems.
Junior and CCT President Ryan Coughlin agreed. "We definitely didn't have as many social activities because we had nowhere to have them," he said.
Coughlin said that frequent small events are the foundation for a group that aims to develop an identity within itself and on campus. "Catholicism isn't all about big showy events," he said.
Tufts Muslims have also been crunched for space this year. Previously, they had been able to worship in the basement of the Islamic Center, but have not been allowed to since Feb. 2006 when the basement was closed. Hawat said that he is still unsure as to why this restriction is in place.
"I've been looking for why for a long time and I haven't gotten an answer," he said. "The whole Muslim community at Tufts is feeling disappointed from the way they have been treated."
In the meantime, he said, Muslim students have used classrooms, mainly the Crane Room, for prayer.
Even as construction is underway, definitive plans for the center still have to be hammered out. According to Penick, chaplains have not yet convened to discuss protocols and logistics for the center. "I think that is something we'll do as time gets closer," she said.
Despite the current lack of clearly defined rules, many who will be affected expect a bright future for the center. "It's going to force people to work with each other. It's going to be a wonderful thing - the groups connecting with one another," O'Leary said.
