When Britta McNair became engaged, she asked her minister, Julie Windsor Mitchell, to perform her wedding. The two met at Northwestern’s University Christian Ministry in the little white house on Chicago Avenue.
McNair, Weinberg ’04, considers Mitchell more than just her minister, but also her personal friend — a testament to the lasting relationships she made at UCM, she said.
“UCM helped me recreate my spiritual self,” McNair said. “The social network is very close-knit and it left me with a lot of friends who will be there for me. I feel very fortunate for the community it has put me in contact with.”
UCM is one of many religious niches scattered throughout the Evanston Campus. From Sheil Catholic Center to Hillel Cultural Life, religious communities are, for some students, a family away from home. But religious organizations aren’t limited to worship; they also have initiated new programming to attract larger numbers of students and actively engage them in their community.
University Chaplain Timothy Stevens does not view these groups as isolated
entities.
“I like to think of Northwestern as a community of communities,” said Stevens. “Religious communities are very important to students, but I think they see it as part of their larger Northwestern identity.”
But unlike some student groups on campus, religious groups such as Sheil attract students with an actual building as well as shared values, said Father Ken Simpson, Sheil’s director and chaplain.
“A place to come in itself allows students to find a home-away-from-home kind of feeling,” Simpson said. “Pressures and evaluations are not part of being involved with Sheil.”
Rabbi Michael Mishkin, executive director of the Fiedler Hillel Center, said Hillel is more than just a building for worship. Hillel offers students a way to get involved in one of the 11 student groups sponsored by the organization.
Just last year, Hillel created an umbrella organization, Kol, to unite the Jewish groups spread across campus.
Jonathan Powell, a Weinberg senior and president of Kol, said the new organization was created to attract Jewish students who had not yet involved themselves in the NU Jewish community.
“One of the primary goals is to engage and unite the Jewish community as a whole,” Powell said. “We hold biweekly meetings and collaborate publicity efforts to promote a sense of shared community.”
As a result, three of Hillel’s sponsored groups, the Jewish Theater Ensemble, the Wildkatz Klezmer band, and ShireiNU, the Jewish choir, are collaborating for the first time to create a show that will be held in Jones Residential College this January.
“This is just an example of the natural community-building opportunities that we are taking advantage of,” Powell said. “We are pooling our resources to show the rest of the campus the talent and creativity of NU’s Jewish students.”
Some students don’t look to religious groups for programming, but rather as a place to relax. Every Sunday night, UCM hosts a dinner and informal worship service for about 50 students. Communication
junior Kat Shaul has been attending the weekly dinners for the past three years.
“UCM has given me a place on campus to feel comfortable,” Shaul said. “Regardless of things people have done, everyone is so accepting and willing to lend an ear. The weekly dinners are a refreshing start to my week. They rejuvenate me.”
Reach Alex Doniach at [email protected].
