Photo Courtesy of Nabil Rahman

When Muhammad Nuliadi ’28, a first-year student from Denver, Colorado, came to Yale, he was looking for more than a degree, but a place where he could have a good quality of life while receiving an education. 

Nuliadi, who is Muslim, first noticed how diverse the Yale community was after attending Bulldog Days in the spring. He specifically noticed how active the Muslim Students Association was, in contrast to his high school which he described as predominantly white.

“A really large turning point in me being excited about Yale and specifically Muslim life at Yale was when I reached out and emailed Chaplain Omer Bajwa [over the summer],” said Nuliadi. “I just introduced myself and told him I’m a first year and I wanted to ask him some questions. He immediately set up a time to call with me and we called for an hour.”

Over the first few weeks of the semester, many campus religious groups, such as MSA, the Christian Union and the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, have organized and planned events to help first years adjust to the community. 

According to the News’ survey distributed to the class of 2028, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being “extremely religious,” 4 percent of the 535 respondents said 5, 12 percent responded 4 and 22 percent responded 3. Last year, University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel told the News that she has seen a considerable increase in interest in religious communities at Yale. 

Sua Lee ’26, vice president of the Christian Union, told the News that before the school year started, she and other leaders in the Christian Union went on a pre-term retreat to pray for the incoming class and plan events to make sure that anyone who wanted to find Christian community or was exploring faith had the opportunity to do so. 

As part of welcoming all first years, the Christian Union organized a “dorm drop” where they dropped off goodie bags to every first-year suite and invited them to their annual block party. Lee herself went to the block party during her first year and subsequently became involved with the Christian Union. 

“I saw what Christian Union was doing and I saw how passionate our students are about pursuing the Lord and making time for him despite our busy schedules at Yale,” said Lee. “I wanted to really serve in this way so that I could create more opportunities for people to meet him and that’s what I’m still doing now.” 

At the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, Odessa Goldberg ’25, one of the co-presidents of the Hillel Student Board along with Sophie Dauerman ’25, spoke about the many first-year-oriented events she and others have organized like SlifkaFest, bluebooking sessions, First Year Dinner and matching first years with older students through Slifka Families or Slibs. 

Goldberg spoke about Shabbat dinners being one of the main events that drew her to the Jewish community at Yale. According to Goldberg, 315 students attended Shabbat dinner last Friday. 

“I remember one of those first Shabbats, where an upperclassman beckoned me over by name to join them for dinner and feeling this growing, effusive sense of home,” Goldberg wrote to the News. “Sophie and I try to make an effort to greet and chat with every table on Friday nights to make sure everyone feels welcomed. Shabbat dinners were — and still are — the cornerstone of my Jewish community here.” 

Nabil Rahman ’26, president of the MSA, spoke of similar feelings of welcome by the community when starting out at Yale. He mentioned being apprehensive and nervous at first about finding a community where he would feel comfortable. 

Yet because of the robust Muslim community, specifically at Yale, Rahman said he felt more included. He cited the infrastructure of Halal meat in all of the dining halls as well as access to a Muslim chaplain as being two important draws for him. 

“I was very terrified of coming to college and not really finding a space where I felt at home or welcomed,” said Rahman. “We did a lot of things my first year — we would go on hikes to East Rock, we would go do prayers, we would go to the beach and play games and at the end pray in the midst of this natural scenery.” 

This year, MSA has hosted a welcome back dinner which attracted around 150 people in addition to weekly Jumu’ah prayers which are attended by around 200 people from across the Yale community. 

Rahman said that he wanted to step up into a leadership role to support the next generations of students like him at Yale.

“This community has supported me immensely through my time at Yale,” Rahman said. “Being able to do that for the next generations and setting up ways to transform MSA to really benefit Muslim students here and work with other organizations has been very important and has really made me feel at home here.”

The Chaplain’s Office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.