Religious Activities Center
40 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)-253-7707
Religious accommodations are offered in addition to other policies which the instructor of the subject has for excused absences or dropping the lowest grades. For example, if all students are allowed to drop their three lowest grades, a student would not be expected to use one of these three drops for a quiz or classwork that they missed due to a religious observance. An appropriate accommodation would be to allow the student to make up the missed work after the holiday.
If your class, department, or student group is offering food, please consider including options that are kosher (Jewish), halal (Muslim), and vegan (Hindu/Jain). ORSEL chaplains are happy to help connect you to appropriate vendors.
ORSEL allows religious groups the limited use of ceremonial wine. Events qualify as exempt (and therefore do not need to be registered as having alcohol) if an ORSEL-affiliated chaplain or chaplaincy staff member will be present, and if the extent of the alcohol use is the traditional sharing of wine within a recognized cultural/religious context. For Christian Communion this includes providing a small serving of wine to each participant. For a Jewish Shabbat or holiday meal, this includes blessing a cup at the beginning of the meal and providing a glass of wine to each person of legal age who is dining. There is no exemption for the use of beer or spirits.
This exemption applies in all Campus Activities Complex (CAC) spaces, and ORSEL encourages other MIT space managers to offer the same consideration to ORSEL-affiliated groups.