With a kosher café, rooms for multiple religious services, an auditorium for special programs, and a fully-equipped fitness center, I can’t help but wonder: What isn’t included in the plans for the new Hillel?
Within the next 2 years, the University of Wisconsin Hillel hopes to begin construction on a new facility. The existing Hillel building, which was built in 1956, is too small to meet the needs of UW’s more than 5,000 Jewish students. While other campus Hillels serve as epicenters for Jewish life on campus, the UW Hillel has been hampered by an unwelcoming interior. In an effort to enhance the vitality of Jewish student life at UW, Hillel is now embarking on a multi-million-dollar capital campaign to build, furnish, and endow a 30,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art Hillel building. “Hillel has already raised several million dollars toward the building project and hopes to raise several more this school year,” says Hillel’s executive director, Greg Steinberger.
The new facility, which will be constructed on four levels, will offer a dynamic environment for students to socialize, eat, attend guest lectures, work out, and study. A café with outside seating, both a TV and study lounge, a rooftop terrace, multiple classrooms and boardrooms, and a library, dining room, and fitness center are among the many new features that Hillel hopes to build. The building will also offer more intimate and private spaces for quiet conversation, reading, and reflection, and will have wireless internet, allowing students to send and receive e-mail or surf the web. This new facility will enable Hillel to hold many new programs including lectures, movies, cultural presentations, religious celebrations, beit midrash studies, and festive dinners. There will also be enough room to hold five or more services simultaneously, with moveable walls to accommodate crowds during the High Holidays.
Currently, the UW Hillel is at an ideal location for Jewish students on the University of Wisconsin campus. Hillel is adjacent to the Towers and Statesider Residence Halls, which house a large Jewish student population and is only two blocks from the Wisconsin Memorial Union. The new facility will be built in the same location. While under construction, Hillel will relocate to a nearby building.
Naturally, Jewish students at UW have one thing on their mind: how soon will the new Hillel open? “If all goes well, design and construction will begin within the next 18 to 20 months,” says Steinberger, “and ideally doors will open in 24 to 36 months.”
The University of Wisconsin Hillel is working hard to give its talented and dedicated students all they deserve and more. With a wide array of new facilities and programs, Hillel hopes to create a synergy of pride and a new home for Jewish life at the University of Wisconsin.
