They host dinners, brown bag lunches, speeches, discussions and weekly meetings of worship. They conduct fund-raisers, set up tables and volunteer throughout the community.
With nearly 30 University-sanctioned religious organizations located on or adjacent to campus, it is easy for interested students to become involved.
Campus religious groups provide students with the opportunity to practice faith and spirituality, explore new ideas and meet new people.
Reverend Ann Bowersox, co-president of the Religious Directors Association and the director of the Koinonia Center, said, “The main purpose of campus religious groups is to build and support community and, close to that, offer students the opportunity to ask the big questions about faith and life.”
Oregon Hillel is welcoming incoming students with a week of events, from Sept. 23 to 28. The events include a Jewish community reception, Kol Nidre services, Yom Kippur services and a welcome barbecue.
“It is important to have on-campus Jewish life because college students are in unique positions and it offers a community tailored to young people,” said Andi Lipstein, University graduate and Hillel program director. “My Jewish isn’t the same as my grandma’s.”
Hillel hosts a number of events that extend throughout the academic year. Every Monday at noon, Hillel will be conducting “hot topics,” a brown bag lunch get-together in the EMU Fishbowl where students discuss current events and other prevalent issues.
Some of fall’s topics include the upcoming elections, Judaism and tattoos.
Hillel honors the Sabbath every Friday evening, has weekly Torah studies and hosts occasional falafel lunches.
Lipstein says that student involvement in Hillel varies.
“Service isn’t how I connect to Judaism so, during service, I would be in the kitchen cooking dinner,” she said.
The Koinonia Center, home to the Presbyterian Campus Ministry, hosts a weekly dinner and worship from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday evening.
Koinonia is a small progressive Presbyterian organization.
“Social justice is important to us, and we are very open and welcoming to people despite race or sexual orientation,” Bowersox said.
Twice a week, Bowersox heads to the Buzz Coffeehouse, on the ground floor of the EMU, where she is available to meet with interested students and members of Koinonia.
“We look at current affairs through the lens of the gospel,” Bowersox said.
Koinonia is a place where members meet and keep in contact with people whose paths they would have never crossed otherwise, Bowersox said.
The Koinonia Center, located at 1414 Kincaid St., will host an
opening barbecue Oct. 3 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Buddhists for Peace is a relatively recent addition to the RDA. Members meet several times a month in the EMU’s International Lounge and
discuss fundamentals of their practice. Their first meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m. on October 14 and October 28.
BFP practices Nichiren Buddhism and strives to promote the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th century Buddhist monk, according to its Web site.
“If you’re curious about Buddhists for Peace, then check it out,” BFP faculty advisor David Koranda said. “You can converse about it without believing it.”
On Nov. 18, BFP will present guest speaker David Krieger, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The event will be held in the International Lounge at 6:30 p.m..
Last spring, BFP hosted a
theme-based meeting about “String
Theory” and its connections with Buddhist faith.
Koranda said BFP was founded as an educational group.
“It is educational to understand how different people think and how their different philosophies dictate their lives,” he said.
For more information about Oregon Hillel, contact [email protected] or visit its Web site, www.oregonhillel.org. For more
information on the Presbyterian Campus Ministry, contact Bowersox at [email protected].
For more information on Buddhists
for Peace, e-mail the group
at [email protected] or visit
the Buddhists for Peace Web site, gladstone.uoregon.edu/~bfpu.To view a complete list of campus religious organizations, go to www.uoreligiouslife.org.

Campus Religious Groups

Jesse Dungan is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.