Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministry History
"The Unitarians were perhaps the first to develop a denominational strategy for campus ministry. Their plan was to establish churches in college towns, whose mission would be to develop significant work with students. The first was begun in Ann Arbor in 1865, and by the turn of the century the young people's society of that local church had a membership of over 200 even though there were no more than 25 Unitarian students enrolled at the University of Michigan at the time."
—Donald Shockley in Campus Ministry: The Church Beyond Itself
In the Year 1855...
In 1855 the Channing Club (Unitarian) was founded at the University of Wisconsin Madison. It is considered to be one of the first campus ministries on a public campus in the USA and Canada. Named after William Ellery Channing, an important Unitarian theologian of the 19th century, Channing Clubs were a place for intellectual discussion and served as a conduit to the local Unitarian congregations, many of which were built adjacent to major universities particularly East of the Mississippi. Channing Clubs existed on several dozen campuses over the next 100 years and were affiliated with the American Unitarian Association. Within the Universalist Church of America there were Murray Clubs, the brand name for Universalist campus ministry. Murray Clubs were named after John Murray who is known for giving one of the first Universalist sermons at what is now Murray Grove on the coast of central New Jersey in the late 1800's, and went on to be a leading preacher in the region from Philadelphia to New York to Boston. In 1955 six years before the merger of Unitarians and Universalists, the two clubs officially became the Channing-Murray Center, however there were several instances of the clubs working together as early as 1908.
The Channing-Murray Foundation, located at the University of Illinois, founded their campus ministry in 1908. Originally a campus outreach program of the Unitarian and Universalist associations, the program continues to provide a program of religious, education, and social justice activities that reflect the principles and purposes of Unitarian Universalism today.
Our general awareness of campus ministry in the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is limited as our commitment to campus ministry has wavered from 1960 to the year 2000. The UUA Administration and Board of Trustees dismantled campus ministry programs and staff in the late 1960s. Without staff and funding the congregations and districts were left to fend for themselves and have not been able to develop long-term, sustainable programs because of the lack of networking and technical assistance from the UUA.
Professional staff support at the denominational level for campus ministry has been minimal over the last 40 years. Rev Orloff Miller in the mid-1960s was the last known full-time staff person dedicated to campus ministry before the position of Campus Ministry and Field Organizing Director was created for Joseph Santos-Lyons, hired in 2001. Over time several individuals, including Rev Donna DiSciullo and Rev Tom Chulak, have had campus ministry as a part oftheir UUA work portfolios, however there has not been the dedicated vision and commitment that there is at present with the establishment of a UUA Campus Ministry Advisory Committee, Strategic Plan, and funding thanks to the UUA's “Campaign for Unitarian Universalism” and Mind the Gap Youth, Campus & Young Adult Sunday fundraising.
It is stronger now because of stable UUA and growing district and local congregational funding. There is an emerging consensus on the mission and place of Campus Ministry within the UUA and member congregations made possible by consistent annual continental young adult programs and strategic leadership development and leadership training. The Unitarian Universalist Association in collaboration with the Continental UU Young Adult Network have created a community of grassroots leaders who are accountable locally, identified common struggles and successes, and institutionalized basic communications in order to best recognize the needs and related services that local campus groups need from districts and the UUA.
There are two primary recent predecessors to the campus ministries of the 21st century. One was the Student Religious Liberals (SRL), founded in the 1960s and lasting for about ten years. SRL was a continental movement of students on college campuses who organized and led activities with the support of the UUA and local UU churches and ministers. The College Centers Program was funded and coordinated by the UUA during the time of SRL and at one point had over 40 local chapters with local ministers dedicated to doing campus ministry. The program developed space on campus for UUs and a series of local events, study and field trips that deepened people's connections with liberal religion. These two organizations left behind little documentation so it is hard to know the scope and depth of the mission and purpose. However it is clear that most of the local affiliations were primarily in the Eastern part of the United States centered strongly around the cities of Madison, WI; Champaign-Urbana, IL; Chicago, IL; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; and Ann Arbor, MI.
Campus Ministry is one of the oldest forms of community ministry within Unitarianism and Universalism. While there has been a decades-long trend of churches moving away from college centers and reduced funding for campus ministry, many are re-envisioning the potential benefits to churches this programming may bring. Today the UUA Office of Young Adult & Campus Ministry recognize over 120 campus groups, which are a collection of student-led, congregational-based, professional-run groups which practice campus ministry in diverse yet meaningful ways. It is the hope of the Office of Young Adult & Campus Ministry to see a new tradition of campus organizing within congregations and colleges that is able to articulate common religious and organizational principles, network effectively with one another to provide support, and generate a consistent and profound impact on the life of Unitarian Universalism in the world.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
