Collegiate Religious Center

The Collegiate Religious Center (CRC) had existed around WPI’s campus for decades, but in 2006, it held the first office for a student organization of faith: Hillel. Later, this became the Prayer Room for the Muslim Student Association.

In 2008, WPI collected the CRC and four different student organizations of faith and Reverend Cheryl Leshay helped to clean, remove wallpaper, and paint the first floor. In 2009, the International Student and Scholars Office began to oversee the running of the CRC and this is when full renovations took place on both the first and second floor of the building.

During this time, each Chaplain (there were three) had an office space on the second floor, each student organization of faith had dedicated closet space, and the main lounge was reserved each day of the week by each student organization. This is also when began their interfaith dialogues with the campus community, which were primarily held in the campus center.

Throughout the next three years, there were transition among Chaplains joining the institution and the CRC, and, in 2010, Pagan Circle began as a student organization of faith. In 2012, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education began to oversee the running of the CRC, which is also when interfaith dialogues started to be held in this building.

In 2018, the Catholic Chaplain office became the Newman Chapel. In 2020, Father Alfredo Porras joined the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education staff alongside Reverend Cheryl Leshay. Additional spaces were also added to the CRC, including the Multifaith Meeting Room and the Multifaith Worship Space.

Currently, the Newman Chapel has transitioned to the Multifaith Worship Space and is open to all on campus, along with the rest of the spaces in the CRC. The previous Prayer Room for the Muslim Student Association has been named an Islamic Prayer Space to promote designated Prayer and Reflection spaces on campus.