Illinois Interfaith and Community Service Challenge

About the Conference

College campuses are dynamic places rich in diversity; they bring the world to you in a way that few experiences can. But, along with these varying perspectives can come strong differences in opinion, and in turn these can quickly lead to tension and strife. Religious difference stands as a potent catalyst for possible discord.

But it doesn’t have to.

The Illinois Conference on Interfaith Collaboration (ICIC) seeks to address the specific concerns raised when navigating religious differences in the specific context of a college campus. It offers an opportunity to come together with other students from all across the country to learn from other students who face interfaith challenges on their own campus, and to hear from some of the top voices for interfaith cooperation working today.

About the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, founded in 1867, is the premier flagship public university of the state of Illinois. In the heart of some of America’s best farmland, the U of I sits in a central location between the cities of Chicago (2 hours north), Indianapolis (2 hours east), and St. Louis (2.5 hours west). And, as its name would suggest, its sprawling campus straddles the adjacent cities of Champaign and Urbana (pop ~100,000).

A prominent research institution, it boasts the fourth largest library system in the United States (behind the Library of Congress, Harvard, and Yale) with over 14 million volumes. Additionally, it houses one of the world’s fastest super computers, called “Blue Waters,” and lays claim to some of the top Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, and Business programs in the country.

Its reputation extends across the globe, attracting its students—numbering more than 40,000— not just from all 50 states, but also from 118 countries all over the world. This makes it the most diverse public university in the Big Ten, and one of the most diverse in the nation, with 26% of its student body made up of minority or under-represented groups. Each of these more than 40,000 students bring with them unique perspectives, traditions, and cultures that come together every August through May in the middle of Central Illinois. With all this diversity, it’s easy to see how interfaith collaboration and cooperation remain important facets of university life.