ABOUT URC

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What is the University Religious Conference at UCLA?

We are an interfaith organization representing many religious, spiritual groups and affiliates on the UCLA campus and in the community.   The University Religious Conference has been with UCLA since 1928. 

The Conference includes the following religions, Spiritual groups and affiliate members:

• American Baptist

• Baha'i

• Buddhist

• Episcopal

• Hindu (Vedanta)

• Jewish

• Lutherans

• Muslim

• Presbyterian

• Roman Catholic

• Sufi

• United Methodist

• The Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies

• Clinical Pastoral Education

• Meals on Wheels

• UCLA Unicamp (University Camps, Inc)

How did URC begin?

In the mid-Twenties, O.D. Foster came to Los Angeles representing the American Association on Religion in Higher Education. His idea was that all religions unite in providing a place for UCLA students to come together on or near the new campus to be built in Westwood.

The first committee to establish the University Religious Conference was composed of Dr. Walter C. Buckner, Father Thomas K. Gorman and Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin. They asked Thomas S. Evans to form an Inter-faith organization.

The University Religious Conference then received its first seed money from a prominent group of Los Angeles residents including E. L. Doheny, Cecil B. DeMille and Bishop W. Bertram Stevens.

What is the mission statement of URC?

The University Religious Conference at UCLA advances ongoing dialogue that fosters the practice of the various religious traditions, encourages trust and respect among diverse religious groups, and promotes religious, spiritual, and ethical values in the campus community.

What does URC do?

URC fosters programs and events in which members of diverse religious groups come together, work and celebrate together, and get to know each other. And in the words of the founding members of the URC, it hopes to create an ongoing processes of exploring religious, spiritual, and ethical values.

A Fact about the URC

• Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the URC auditorium when he visited UCLA.  

  • This fact was mentioned in Stanley A. Wolpert's book, Gandhi's Passion.

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