A new student group will focus on dialogue at a personal level as it seeks to counter what its organizers believe is a dearth of religious tolerance on campus.
Tufts CAFE, an acronym for Conversations, Action, Faith and Education, came about as an extension of Tufts Pathways, an interfaith initiative that aims to promote tolerance across religions.
The idea for CAFE arose last spring, and group members are now working on a number of programs -- including weekly meetings and an academic panel that will broach the subject of the end of the world -- for this semester. Organizers hope to eventually gain recognition from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate next semester.
Those involved with Pathways have organized retreats, multi-university conferences and Experimental College courses with the goal of helping to promote a more tolerant atmosphere at Tufts. Pathways is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
That grant will end later this semester, though. Some of those involved with Pathways felt that a more concrete, lasting group was necessary -- and thus came about the idea for CAFE.
"It's important ... to come together and to get to know each other and also have the difficult conversations that sometimes need to be had," said junior Erin Taylor, who is helping to form CAFE.
Personal contact is key to promoting tolerance in the long term, Taylor said. To that end, CAFE members intend to create spaces for people of various cultures and belief systems to come together.
Organizers hope this type of dialogue will help to break down stereotypes and dispel bigotry.
"The goal is really to create opportunities for open and honest conversation among students of different backgrounds," said Najiba Akbar, a staff member in the Office of the University Chaplain who works on Pathways. Akbar has worked closely with students involved in Tufts CAFE.
Junior Katie Vogel, another CAFE leader, thinks that interfaith dialogue can serve as an excellent learning opportunity. "If people enjoy this, then it will send a message that dialogue is cool, which is a good message to send," she said.
At a general interest meeting on Jan. 29 in Brown and Brew, students gathered to hear about the group's vision and how to get involved. "It was fantastic," said sophomore Danna Solomon, who is helping to organize CAFE. "We talked about CAFE and did a mixer."
With roughly 15 new attendees of a variety of backgrounds at the meeting, CAFE now has a base of 30 or so interested students. This will prove useful when the group applies to become a TCU Senate-recognized organization.
For its inaugural event, the group will hold a panel on life, death and the end of the world. The program was inspired by a Mayan-inspired belief that the world might end in 2012.
CAFE's initial plans call for a panel of professors from different areas of academia who will talk various interpretations of the topic. In the spirit of face-to-face interaction, audience members will then break into small discussion groups. CAFE organizers have not yet set date for the program.
This semester's events will serve as a litmus test for figuring out how to run the group next fall.
"[We want to] have some events, figure out what works and what people want from us, so when we apply to be an organization in the fall we are very clear on what we need to do," Taylor said.
