By Rachel Zarrell

A club originally created as a diversity council has evolved this year into an outlet for interfaith communication on campus.

The Multi-Faith Student Connection Group has been in the works for a few years, as a place to have interfaith dialogues, said Shelli Jankowski-Smith, director of Spiritual Life on campus.

The group was founded as a multiple-ethnicity committee, where students of different backgrounds could sit on a council and represent their particular religious organization.

“Over the years, what the students wanted from the group began to kind of evolve and change and they decided it was really no longer doing the work of a council,” Jankowski-Smith said.

The council idea morphed into the Student Connection Group when members decided they would rather have a place where students are more spiritual than religious and can convene to learn about other cultures.

“It’s a place for people [to talk] together to learn more about one another’s faiths and share their spiritual ideas, as well as a place to plan and run programs on campus to help build multifaith connections among people of different spiritualities,” Jankowski-Smith said.

The group meets every week and discusses topics that include religions and people of different beliefs, said Vipul Gohil, a Northeastern alumn who was a member of the club for more than two years.

Gohil said he likes the group’s opportunity for open dialogue.

“If I want to know about different religions, I can’t just go up and ask people, but [in the club] I can ask anyone without feeling bad about it,” he said.

Besides providing a place for students to delve more deeply into their own beliefs and understanding of spirituality, the Multi -Faith Student Connection Group also hopes to organize events and activities that will foster inter-faith tolerance on campus.

Some events held in the past included a spiritual life fair, which had tables set up with students representing religious groups, and a multi-faith speakers panel that discussed religion in an open Q’A session.

Last year. the group also sponsored Religious Jeopardy, with teams consisting of students of multiple faiths, competing for prizes based on what they knew about different religions. Recently the group sponsored the Muslim breaking of the fast – called Laylat al-Qadr, or “Night of Power.”

Ian Muller, a senior philosphy and religious studies major and member of the group, said the club-sponsored events are making positive changes on campus.

“I think that some of the events we have run [and] helped run have furthered religious … ‘intelligence,'” he said. “[They have] helped people learn more about their own spirituality in turn.”

Jankowski-Smith said the group is very diverse with about 10 members all representing a broad range of faiths and spiritualities.

“The group most hopes to accomplish providing a way for people to get together in a respectful way to really learn about one another,” she said.

Members meet once a week in the Reflection Room in 201 Ell Hall to discuss, and plan future events, and Jankowski-Smith said she encourages students curious of other peoples’ faiths to attend.