In the absence of a consistent chaplain position, religious and spiritual life at Hamilton has faced a number of challenges after the firing of Jeff McArn. While student leaders have been working to maintain their religious communities, changes in chaplaincy leadership have forced them to take on additional responsibilities while lacking the proper guidance and support to run programming.

Kirk Petrie ’25, Co-President of Newman Council, Hamilton’s on-campus Catholic community, says that every semester at Hamilton has been “vastly different” for religious life. “The support systems we had in place two years ago are very different from what we have now,” he said.

Petrie said that Jeff McArn, the previous Head of Hamilton’s chaplaincy, “was really good about encouraging student leaders to create programming and do all the things that they want. He took on a lot of the administrative stuff behind the scenes to just let the students run with the idea and he would take care of the logistics.”

“My experience with Jeff was always positive,” said Carter Hollins ’25, Co-President of Hillel, Hamilton’s on-campus Jewish community. “He had this light and this joy that he would bring to any space he walked into. And he was someone who I knew if I ever needed help, he would be there, no questions asked.”

In the semester following McArn’s sudden termination in June 2023, Petrie said they had to “pick up the pieces” and figure out “where to go from here.” At that point, religious organizations still had the support of Jenn and Michael Ferman, the former Jewish chaplains who began working at Hamilton in the fall 2022 semester and took on a lot of the work that McArn had done before he left.

Hollins said that Jenn and Michael Ferman were especially helpful in assisting with engagement. “When they were here, more Hamilton community members would come to our events. They were really good at getting people in the door and then knowing when to kind of back up and let the students involved in Hillel kind of take the lead,” he said. “They also helped with Shabbat. We did not need to worry about what food we were ordering, how much it was going to cost or when it was going to arrive.”

At the beginning of the spring 2024 semester, Trevor Beauford was appointed to the position of Interim Chaplain and Director of Spiritual and Religious Life at Hamilton.

“I found him to be one of the most incompetent people I’ve worked with in my life,” Petrie said. “It was just a pattern of being late to meetings and not understanding what the role of chaplain to support student clubs was to be. He was a figurehead for some clubs, but not all of them. I would not say that Newman relied on him for much.”

However, Sara Conti ‘27, Vice President of the Hamilton Christian Fellowship, said that Beauford was helpful in organizing big events like Easter. “It was nice to know someone was going to work out all the details,” she said.

Over the summer, Beauford, Jenn Ferman, and Michael Ferman left their positions in the chaplaincy staff. Since then, support for religious life has been provided by Christopher Card, Vice President and Dean of Students, along with Ariel Jarman, who was promoted to a full-time role as Chaplaincy Manager of Spiritual and Religious Life.

“[Jarman] has been really good at supporting the student clubs,” Petrie said. “She’s helped to organize the Spiritual Leadership Council.”

Conti said that Jarman has been great at “figuring out logistics, organizing bigger events and conducting a lot of outreach to local churches.”

However, student leaders of religious groups agree that the need for a formal chaplain position is urgent.

“I think that [Jarman] has way too much work on her plate, because she’s in charge of supporting all nine chaplaincy cluster organizations,” Hollins said. “That’s why we need a chaplain–someone who can hire a full staff, delegate specific tasks to them, but also be a support for the general campus community.”

Petrie echoed this concern, emphasizing that the chaplaincy has been severely understaffed for the past two years. “I think there just needs to be people up there that work full time and do things that students and [Jarman] cannot do, like offering support to students, conducting outreach and spearheading some of the stuff that happens that is student run,” Petrie said.

The lack of adequate support has made it increasingly difficult for student groups to sustain engagement and host events. “We’re lacking the support we need to run events and get people engaged in Hillel,” Hollins said. “Every group needs support and there’s only one person full time in the chaplain seat right now, and she’s great, but she’s doing the work of so many more people.”

Conti noted that the absence of a dedicated chaplain has also affected interfaith collaboration. “One thing I heard a lot about our previous chaplain is that people came together a lot more,” Conti said. “There was a lot more collaboration between different religious groups, and we’ve been working on collaborating but it’s just difficult when it’s all students trying to orchestrate everything.”

Hamilton College recently announced the search for a Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life through the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. According to the job description, the new Dean will serve as “a thoughtful and engaged leader for the College and a collaborative curator of programming, space, and community to meet the pluralistic and ever-changing needs of the Hamilton community.” Reporting to the Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students, the Dean will work to make spiritual and religious life “a more relevant, central, and visible part of campus life.” The search is being led by Ernest Brooks, an executive search consultant and co-lead of Isaacson, Miller’s social justice and advocacy practice area, along with associate Alexis Ditaway and senior search coordinator Caroline Corry. Screening of applications is already underway, with priority consideration given to applicants who submit by Mar. 21. There are professors and student representatives on the chaplain search committee as well, including Petrie.

The All Beliefs Union Club, Chabad Community, Muslim Student Association, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes did not respond to requests for comment.