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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

CAFE pre-orientation program to return to campus this summer

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In August CAFE will return as a fifth pre-orientation program, and allowing incoming first-years to learn about interfaith beliefs and social justice.

Each year, about half the members of Tufts’ incoming first-year class begin their college experience not on the first day of mandatory All-University Orientation but with the optional pre-orientation programs the previous week. In August 2015,  a fifth pre-orientation program called CAFE (Conversation, Action, Faith and Education), run by the University Chaplaincy, will rejoin the existing four after a three-year hiatus.

Initially started in 2009, CAFE appeals to incoming first-years whose interests may not be encompassed by the other four programs — FOCUS, TWO, GO (formerly IO) and FIT, which address interests ranging from community service to outdoor adventure and fitness — according to University Chaplain Reverend Greg McGonigle, who is helping to plan CAFE.

“The CAFE pre-orientation program was begun … as a unique pre-orientation experience for students interested in interfaith learning and engagement and social justice,” McGonigle told the Daily in an email. 

Although it was held for just three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011, CAFE successfully gathered a group of strong student leaders in that time, according to McGonigle.

"Although small in size compared to other pre-os, CAFE gathered a remarkable group of incoming student leaders who shared a powerful experience together, and many of whom went on to be key leaders in Tufts’ religious and philosophical student organizations and in important campus movements for social justice,” he said in email.

According to McGonigle, a period of transitioning leadership within the University Chaplaincy in 2012 caused CAFE to dissolve. However, Director for Campus Life Joe Golia believes that the Chaplaincy's newly revived support is expected to help make CAFE a success.

“While there was definitely support from the Chaplaincy [for CAFE during the three years that CAFE ran], this was before [McGonigle] was here," he said. "It wasn’t at the extent of what it is now, and I think that’s why we’re hoping that it will be successful.”

In order to bring CAFE back to campus, Golia explained, McGonigle and Chaplaincy Program and Outreach Specialist Zachary Cole had to go through a detailed application process required of anyone interested in adding a new pre-orientation program.

“They did a great job getting [the application] all together and getting that to us ... it was a little easier on their part because they were a returning and established group,” Golia said.

According to McGonigle, eight to 10 current students, alongside McGonigle and Cole, have been busy planning CAFE’s return for the incoming Class of 2019. One member of the planning committee is first-year Marina Rakhilin, who learned about CAFE from McGonigle after becoming involved in the Interfaith Student Council.

Rakhilin explained that the planning committee is working to lay down the foundation of values upon which CAFE will grow.

“A lot of [the planning process] is just bringing up the question of what does interfaith look like to different groups,"she said.

According to Rakhilin, the committee discusses the program's main goals as well as how it will differentiate itself from the other programs.

"We want community service but we don’t want to be just like FOCUS, and we want discussion but we want people to feel at home, so it’s mostly just solidifying values that we definitely need to have and then figuring out what’s a safe way to ensure those happen,” she said.

Through various activities throughout the five days of the program, CAFE will provide its 25-50 participants with a variety of new experiences. According to McGonigle, the activities in which CAFE participants will partake include discussions, sightseeing, trainings on social justice, interfaith leadership and community organizing, tours of prominent religious and cultural sites in Boston, a visit to Harvard Divinity School and panels with local community organizers.

McGonigle explained that CAFE is meant to have a lasting impact on its participants, providing them with the skills to contribute in a positive and meaningful way to the Tufts community as well as to the wider community even once the program is over.

“We hope participants will experience an opportunity to explore themselves and others, identify their strengths in religious and philosophical literacy and room to grow, raise their consciousness about issues of social justice on campus and in the wider community and learn how to make positive change through community organizing and activism,” he said.

Rakhilin added that, like the other pre-orientation programs, CAFE will also emphasize the relationships that its participants form with one another.

“We want [CAFE participants] to know that they have this community and they will always have it and it will endure, and also they get a learning experience out of it on top of the friendship,” she said.

Given FOCUS’s community service-oriented nature, Golia expressed mild concern that CAFE could take participants away from FOCUS. He said, however, that given FOCUS’s high numbers for the Class of 2018, as well as CAFE’s plan to keep numbers low, this should not be a problem.

“[CAFE is] only looking for small numbers so we should be okay, but I think if you’re looking at the descriptions of both and the interest level … FOCUS would be the [pre-orientation program that] I think [CAFE] could affect,” he said.

McGonigle believes that while FOCUS and CAFE share certain characteristics, each takes a different approach to community participation.

“Unlike FOCUS that is centered on direct service in the community, we are designing this pre-o to be more about community organizing and advocacy — examining the causes of social problems and seeking to build solutions through organizing,” he said.

Rakhilin explained that what makes CAFE different from the other pre-orientation programs, and perhaps more risky, may also make it all the more special.

“I guess the real difference is that it’s kind of really [an] educational experience, which is tricky, students teaching students and having really difficult dialogues, not that other groups try to avoid that, but they focus on activities rather than talking," she said. "Hopefully this will open up Tufts to a new generation of students who are willing to discuss difficult things and open themselves up.”

Golia and his team are looking forward to seeing how CAFE’s first year back on campus goes.

“We think they have a fantastic plan, like really ready to go, so we’re excited to have them as a part of the whole program and see what the student interest is,” he said.

According to Golia, CAFE is already included on the pre-orientation website and will be added to this year’s pre-orientation brochure, as well as advertised on Jumbo Days. Golia expressed his desire to make sure that CAFE is viewed alongside the other four programs as an accepted part of the pre-orientation mix.

“That was really important to me because I think that’s how it’s going to succeed … Anybody coming in has no idea that we just added it. It’s here, it’s one of the five," he said.

McGonigle described the support that CAFE has seen from the Tufts pre-orientation community, and their excitement to be part of that community again.

“One thing that was very exciting as we began to meet with the other pre-o leaders was how encouraging they were of our reviving this program,” he said.

According to McGonigle, other pre-o leaders agree that CAFE will serve a purpose that the other programs don't.

“Everyone expressed that CAFE occupies a niche that is not being fully addressed by the other programs. We are excited to work with the other pre-o leaders in order to learn from their wisdom, and we are eager to be supportive of their programs in any ways we can be,” he said.