Alfred University, Division of Psychology, Psychology Club host Death Cafe, event founded in 2011

More than 50 members of the Alfred University community attended the University's first Death Cafe, a gathering held to share thoughts about death and dying.

The first Death Café, an effort to normalize conversations and understandings of an inevitable fact of life, took place in 2011, in the United Kingdom. More than 20,000 have been held worldwide since then, including Alfred University's own Death Café, held last Thursday, March 28, in Susan Howell Hall.

More than 50 Alfred University students, staff, and faculty turned out for the session, which was hosted by Professor of Psychology Danielle Gagne and numerous students, many of them members of Alfred University's Psychology Club, who helped with organizing.

Gagne said she has wanted to host a Death Café for years. "This year I have quite a few dynamic students who are helping me," she said, adding a Death Café is one more event that helps characterize Alfred University as "outside of ordinary."

Visitors to the café gathered at tables accommodating up to eight individuals and were invited to begin sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding death. Gagne, who teaches the Psychology of Death and Dying," describes the cage as a community effort that "partly supports our experiential learning focus. Students in my class are taking what they have learned in the classroom and engaging in dialogue with people outside the classroom."

Each table was aided by notes asking a variety of questions about death and dying; for example: "What are your thoughts on an afterlife?" "What would be the worst way to die?" "Is it okay to grieve in America?"

The latter question, Gagne said, is tied to a cultural aversion, or discomfort, with the subject of death. "In many cultures, there is a ritual surrounding death, such as sitting Shiva. There's a perspective. We don't have that in America. … We're a death denying and grief-denying culture."

She noted one of the most popular undergraduate courses at Alfred University is the Psychology of Death and Dying, which was taught for 24 years by the late Psychology Professor Gail Walker. Gagne began teaching the class following Walker's retirement. "She loved teaching this topic to students, and it has been one of my greatest honors to keep teaching the class in her memory."