The University of Wisconsin is furthering its effort to bring students of different backgrounds together after agreeing to work with the White House’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge through the shared work of the Lubar Institute, the Morgridge Center and the Multicultural Student Center.

The initiative is a year-long process in which participating institutions will work to bridge the gap between different cultures and religions to benefit the community, according to the White House’s website.

UW entered the application process after Charles Cohen, director of the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions, attended a conference last year and began writing the proposal.

“The initiative calls attention to an issue that has been underplayed on campus for a long time in both its positive and negative aspects, which was why I invested the time and energy to put this forward,” Cohen said.

MSC Interim Director Donte Hilliard said the program holds a value when it comes to history, citing the example of the nation’s founding on the principle of religious freedom.

He also said this program came from the first black president, who himself came under fire concerning religion.

“Obama’s presidency has really highlighted understanding the cross of faith and identity,” Hilliard said.

He also said this intersection is a large part of one’s culture and individuality. As such, he said understanding religions is crucial in today’s increasingly global society.

Nancy Matthews, UW environmental studies professor and Morgridge Center director, said students do not fully understand the role interfaith communication plays on a large-scale level.

“If our students don’t understand the role interfaith plays in culture and its importance, then I think we as a university have not done our job in educating them to be globally competent,” she said.

Having students graduate with interfaith experience is necessary today, Cohen said. 

Cohen said students could use the experience to help not only with their success, but also with their roles in society as a whole, he added.

“The stability of American civil society depends on our ability as members of faith-based communities or non faith-based communities to understand what our fellow persons think,” Cohen said.

Each center will host events or implement programs dealing with interfaith issues.

Programming for the initiative includes MSC’s Social Justice Speaker and Trainer Series as part of the organization’s “Faith or Justice: Ironies, Inequalities and Ideologies” theme. The first speaker slated for the series is Parvez Sharma, who will be in the Red Gym Sept. 22, at 7 p.m.

Additional programming includes the Morgridge Center’s Badger Volunteers working with three local middle schools and the YWCA in the area of interfaith education and the addition of a reflection module to the Chicano and Latina studies 330 course on handling faith, justice and individuality.

Further events will take place throughout the year.

Out of more than 300 schools participating nationally, the campus is one of the few public institutions, with an even smaller number being a major world-class research or teaching university such as UW, Cohen said.

UW is setting a new precedent for its peer institutions, he added.

“We’re really serving as a vanguard public institution,” said Cohen.