In a nation founded with religious freedom as a central tenet, understanding the roots of one's own faith and discussing it in a non-defensive or unoffensive way can be trying for many. Yet, it is the goal of an emerging interfaith cooperation movement around academia, one that draws upon and expands the ideals and energy of past college generations that found commonality in purpose through their respective faiths. Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is a Chicago-based nonprofit that focuses on getting colleges across the nation--large, small, public, private--to make "interfaith cooperation" a norm on campuses. IFYC was founded in 2001 with a $35,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. By early 2011, IFYC was working in partnership with the White House in launching the president's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, an initiative urging institutions to commit to a year of "interfaith cooperation and community service programming on campus."