By Kimberly Seif

The newly formed Interfaith Exchange held their first discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 25, after receiving a grant from the Interfaith Youth Corps, a non-profit organization that works with colleges to bring to integrate the interfaith mindset into university life.

The Interfaith Student Council was created last year as an organization for student representatives from different faith-based organizations on campus. However, this year, the University of Maryland received a grant from the Interfaith Youth Corps, which created the new Interfaith Exchange program. 

Denise McHugh is the manager of the Memorial Chapel, and acts as an advisor for the group along with Cori Carfagno, assistant director for the Department of Engagement. Carfagno states that she’s always had a “strong passion for interfaith work, and also studying religion.”

“When this grant came up . . .  we jumped on it to say this would be a great dialogue and time in our current state of events of the nation to start having these chats,” Carfagno said.

During the meeting Wednesday at the garden by the Memorial Chapel, attendees discussed   what their faith means to them, and why they decided to come out and be apart of this group.

According to Mary Lopez, the manager of Operations and Outreach in Undergraduate Program for the School of Public Policy, the discussion was a good way to “learn about other people’s faith but not be unsure about yours.” 

In addition to an open discussion, the group also completed several activities. Each person filled out an “Identity Gear” sheet, where they had to write out what they thought were the defining aspects of their identity. The group also discussed an article entitled, “Faith Is the Diversity Issue Ignored by Colleges. Here’s Why That Needs to Change,” by Eboo Patel. 

Sama Sabihi is a higher education and student affairs graduate student at the University of Maryland. She practices the Bahá’í faith, and she said during the meeting that the article really spoke to her. 

Bahá’í is considered to be a minority religion, and Sabihi’s religious holidays are not often regularly recognized by universities like other holidays for major religions like Christianity or Judaism. The group spoke about how faith is not treated as category of diversity at schools, and how there can even be negative connotations attached to active involvement in faith as a college student by their peers. 

“[I’m] really excited about kind of opening the door back up for myself to become acquainted with my religion, and also learn about folks,” Sabihi said.

Feed the Families, an interfaith service project, was also held on Tuesday, Sept. 24. Feed the Families has been an annual event the Memorial Chapel for several years. The chapel partners with Terps Against Hunger to package food to take to a food bank in Washington, D.C. At Feed the Families, representative from different faith-based organizations on campus started the event by sharing what service means to them and their faith. 

The next Interfaith Exchange Discussion will be held Oct. 16 at the Memorial Chapel.