Press Releases

August 10, 1995
Southampton Campus Receives Luce Foundation Grant for Friends World Program

Contact: Jane Finalborgo
(516) 287-8313

The Friends World Program at the Southampton Campus has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for the establishment of a global curriculum in comparative religion. The award is the largest private foundation grant ever received by the College.

The grant will be used to set up an innovative global program in comparative religion in which students will live and study in three different countries: Israel, India and Japan.

"We hope to provide substantial insights into the beliefs and cultures of the world's major religions, giving students a sensitivity to some of the most deeply held beliefs and traditions of humankind," said Lewis Greenstein, Director of the Friends World Program which is based at the Southampton Campus. "It will allow students to experience the world's religious cultures in a way not possible through classroom study or library research alone."

Students in the program will live with families or in religious institutions in the three regions during the year-long program so that they can become totally immersed in the culture of the area they are studying. Following the Friends World tradition of experiential learning, they will visit the holy sites and observe and participate first-hand in religious ceremonies and traditions. In each location, students will work individually with Friends World faculty, with religious figures and local academicians to support their investigations.

In Japan students will live in a Buddhist temple and learn meditation techniques from a Zazen master; they will stay at a religious retreat on a mountainside and study martial and decorative arts by working with local practitioners.

In India students will stay at the Tibetan monastery at Bylakuppe to learn from the monks about the traditions of Tibet. They will become involved with the Maha Bodhi Society in Bangalore to explore the southern practice of Buddhism as found in India, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and live at the Ramakrishna Mission to become familiar with Hindu belief systems and practices. Students will live as vegetarians, experience the complexities of Hindu theology and participate in festivals and celebrations.

In Israel students will live with Palestinian and Bedouin families to taste first-hand the religious practices and culture of Islam. They will also stay in monasteries of a variety of Christian denominations and study individually with religious and political leaders of several Jewish communities.

"At all three sites religious leaders and scholars of the region will provide lectures and seminars and faculty will serve as facilitators who will help students conceive, design and execute their independent projects," said Greenstein. "The program is open to visiting students from other colleges and universities and is appropriate for a broad range of career interests from religious leadership to international business."

The Luce Foundation grant will be used to establish and market the new program as well as to provide scholarships to insure that students from all walks of life have access to this unique program.

The Friends World Program is the successor of the Friends World College which was established by the New York Annual Meeting of Friends in 1965. In 1991, Friends World College affiliated with Long Island University and since then has achieved accreditation by the Middle States Association. The program emphasizes learning through experience at seven overseas centers in Japan, China, India, Kenya, Israel, England and Costa Rica.