International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27th) marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp and is designated by the UN as a day to honor the great many lives lost in the Holocaust as well as reflect on our own roles in preventing this kind of devastation in the future.

Please join the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life with special guest Lori Gans, for a Wheaton community reflection on the legacy of the Holocaust and what it means for an institution of teaching and learning. Lori Gans is a long time trainer for “Echoes and Reflections,” a program dedicated to training educators across the nation to incorporate Holocaust education into their curricula using innovative teaching resources and best practices.

Register on Zoom

The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life invites you to join Wheaton’s Scholar in Residence, Dr. Wangchuk Rinzin, in Buddhist meditation instruction and practice. Dr. Rinzin is a Bhutanese scholar and former Buddhist monk who is teaching this year in the departments of Religion and English. RSL is excited to help share his considerable knowledge and experience with the winder Wheaton community.

Please join us Wednesday December 1st at 4:30 p.m. in The Base meeting room for this special meditation workshop.

If you have any accessibility needs or concerns, please contact [email protected].

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the historically devastating attacks on September 11, 2001, the Office of the President and the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life invite all members of the Wheaton community to join for a brief remembrance ceremony where we will hear from some of our community members and local first responders as well as share in a moment of silence for the many lives lost then and amidst the current turmoil in Afghanistan.

In recognition of this ongoing period of loss, trauma, and grief, the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, along with the COVID-19 Return to Campus Task Force, would like to host this Community Memorial Service as a space to remember and mourn those we’ve lost (both to COVID-19 and other causes) over this past year. This service will be held over Zoom on March 25th at 7pm and is open to all members of the Wheaton community including students, staff, faculty, and alumni. Those on campus are also encouraged to visit the COVID-19 Luminaria display that will bet set up in the Dimple on the evening of the 25th.

Register here to receive the Zoom link

Join special guest speaker, Dr. Alexandra Herzog, Assistant Director of the American Jewish Council of New England along with a panel of Wheaton faculty in remembering the tragedy of the Holocaust as well as recognizing its lasting impact. Hear from the panel as well as SMART coordinator Cheylsea Federle on how we can stand up to anti-semitism, and hate crimes in all their forms. The program will be followed by a brief reception in the May Room.

In 1969, Howard Taylor, brother of actress Elizabeth, bailed out a rag-tag band of 13 young Mainlanders jailed on Kauai for vagrancy and invited them to camp on his oceanfront land in Haena. Soon waves of hippies, surfers and troubled Vietnam vets found their way to Taylor Camp and built a clothing-optional, pot-friendly tree house village at the end of the North Shore road. In 1977, after condemning the village to make way for a State park, government officials torched the camp leaving little but ashes and memories of the best days of our lives.

1970s photos and rare historic footage reveal a community that rejected consumerism for the healing power of nature. The film tells the story of Taylor Camps seven-year existence through interviews made 30-years later with the campers, their neighbors and the Kauai officials who got rid of them.

View the Taylor Camp Trailer