Many religious groups at the College have experienced increased membership in recent years, especially with the matriculation of the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2015, student members of religious organizations said in interviews with The Dartmouth. Dartmouth is home to about 25 different religious organizations that are formally recognized on campus, many of which host discussion groups and religious services, Kurt Nelson, the Tucker Foundation's Assistant Chaplain, said.
Students participating in religious discussion groups said they found their experiences very fulfilling and that they enjoyed having a close-knit group of friends and built-in support structure at the College.
Agape Christian Fellowship, a largely Asian-American group, has experienced a large growth in the group's membership, Agape student leader Suiwen Liang '13 said.
"[Agape] grew a lot last year and this year, so I would say that the overall size of Agape has changed significantly, at least the last three years I've been here," Liang said.
Christian organizations on campus usually feature religious discussions in which small groups of students come together for Bible study, according to students in multiple Christian organizations.
"Small groups pick some portion of the Bible or some particular topic and study that," Ed Talmage '12, a member of the evangelical group Christian Impact, said. "This week we have been focusing on wisdom."
Other groups, such as Shanti, the campus Hindu group, have moved away from discussion groups and are instead trying to plan more social events, according to Shanti president Ramesh Govindan '13.
"We are trying to work on more social events to attract a wider group of people," Govindan said.
Some groups have one major event each week, while others, like the Jewish student group Hillel, have multiple events per week, such as Jews and Java on Wednesdays, Jew Crew on Thursdays and Friday night Shabbat dinners.
"[Hillel] isn't a condensed organization that meets once a week," Hillel president Sophie Palitz '13 said. "What's hard is that the people who come to meetings aren't necessarily the same people who come to [other events.]"
Tucker serves as an umbrella organization for a variety of religious and service groups on campus and provides a portion of many groups' funding.
Govindan said Shanti applies for and generally receives funding from Tucker, especially when putting on large campus events, such as celebrations for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
Talmage said, however, that Christian Impact is affiliated with a national organization called Campus Crusades for Christ and does not receive significant funding from Tucker.
Most groups cited Dimensions and Orientation as a time when they reach out to the incoming freshmen about joining religious groups. Many new members also hear about the groups word-of-mouth.
"People benefit from [the group] so much and want to spread it to their friends because ... it's such a supportive group," said Stephanie Abbott-Grobicki '15, a member of Christian Union, a pan-Ivy League organization that was newly launched at Dartmouth in Fall 2011.
Students said the discussion groups helped them to find their place at the College.
"The discussion groups were a great way to get further introduced to the Catholic community of [Aquinas House] besides Mass," Chris Hauser, a member of the Aquinas House leadership team, said. "For me, they are really a great supplement to a Dartmouth education."
In addition to specific religious organizations, Dartmouth also hosts a variety of multi-faith programs, including the Multi-Faith Council, led by Nelson.
"MFC strives to be as religiously diverse as possible," Nelson said. "It tends to draw from a variety of religious traditions, as well as a diverse group of members who are sort of figuring out where they are."
Students unaffiliated with religious groups showed a range of understanding of the different religious organizations on campus, with some acknowledging their value to other students and others admitting to knowing nothing about the groups.
"My whole floor is religious, so I guess I know a lot about them," Joon Ho Baak '15 said. "I feel like they provide a good alternative or supplemental social circle for people who aren't into Greek life."
