In keeping with its fellow Big Ten schools, UW-Madison offers a variety of religious options. However, unlike some smaller in-state schools, like UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison's diversity equips students to have a more open dialogue regarding religious issues.
Although each school boasts a number of religious organizations, Campus Crusade for Christ, Hillel and Navigators are on all campuses.
Similar to UW-Madison, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has many churches in the heart of campus??-at least one for every denomination of Christianity, said Stephanie Malen, spokesperson for Campus Crusade for Christ of U of M. But neither UW-Milwaukee nor University of Illinois-Urbana/Champagne has nearly as many churches directly on campus.
One factor for this could be that UW-Madison is not a \commuter campus"" like UW-Milwaukee. Unlike the Crusade at UW-Madison, students use the organization as their actual church, said John Keller, a representative from Crusade at UW-Milwaukee.
At all schools, Christian religious groups have the most students and organizations. As public schools, none of these campuses have an officially recognized religion.
Regarding diversity, students represent every major religion and offer chances for any individual to learn at both U of M and Illinois, similar to UW-Madison.
According to Jordan Raney from U of M's Navigators, the campus has an environment where any kind of spirituality is accepted, but religious people are definitely the exception.
In the classroom setting at both U of M and UI, professors do not teach from any religious perspective and often face issues about Christianity.
""Teachers are objective but Christianity is naturally confrontational,"" Raney said. ""Most choose to simply avoid conflict.""
In addition, Keller said Hebrew Studies classes are flourishing at UW-Milwaukee, causing students to do more research on other religions as well, particularly Christianity.
On an individual basis differences can be great for schools.
For students who transfer to UW-Madison from other schools, the challenge is not only how to adjust to another campus, but how to bring religion along as well.
UW-Madison sophomore Yoni Macagon transferred from U of M and is active in his Jewish faith.
According to Macagon, there are approximately 5,000 compared to 1,200 at U of M. He said he finds that Jewish people here are more active and there are more diverse groups and opinions to consider.
""You can be outspoken and people accept it more,"" Macagon said.
Every religious groups noted the university atmosphere encouraged students to discuss religious issues.
""People have more of an interest in spirituality; they engage in conversation,"" said Marty Kidd, a staff member from Navigators at Illinois.
However, Keller added that since students at UW-Milwaukee come to ""learn and leave,"" he thinks students do not engage is as much discussion because they feel unequipped to talk about religion together.
Bill Schrank from IU's Crusade agreed Illinois is similar to UW-Madison in that students want to learn more about religions-not pick one.
""Most students are open to talking about spiritual things,"" Malen said. ""They are trying to figure out what they believe.\
