Gomes Chapel

A beautiful house of prayer and meditation open to all, Gomes Chapel offers solitude, serenity, and community. It’s a place to lift your voice in song, a place for quiet meditation, and a place for us to have important public discussions, including our amazing Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration each January. Inside, banners of the world’s major faith traditions offer visual reminders of Bates’ inclusive founding and mission, as well as the vibrancy of the college’s Multifaith Chaplaincy. The chapel is named for the late Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a Bates graduate, preacher, and Harvard theologian celebrated for advancing LGBTQ rights from the pulpit and as a best-selling author.

Media Gallery

Students are gathered in the pews of Gomes Chapel.
A black and white photo of a stained glass window that features Shakespeare.
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⭐ Equity & Inclusion

When Bates opened in 1855, it was New England’s first co-ed college. Since then, we have admitted students no matter their nationality, race, religion, sex, or socio-economic status. While this openness was at the core of our founding identity and principles, it has been tested throughout time and requires us to constantly reflect upon and recommit to our mission.

Office of Intercultural Education

The Office of Intercultural Education (or OIE) supports that Bates College community by providing educational cultural programming to students. It houses Bobcat First!, a program for first generation to college students, Heritage Experiences, LGBTQIA+ and SPARQ! programming and mentorship, and our Let’s Talk program, which connects Bates students with support from experienced counselors from Counseling and Psychological Services without an appointment.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Observance

MLK Day at Bates is an intense, community-wide opportunity to discuss, teach, and reflect on King’s legacy. It is a time to examine contemporary human issues through the lens of King’s work and ideas, broadly defined. It is a day of thought, reflection, and aspiration for the entire community.

The theme for Bates’ 2021 MLK Day observance was Confronting Our History; Justice for Coming Times. The Jan. 18 keynote, titled Reckoning, was offered by Dr. Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita of the History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in conversation with Bates Professor of English and Chair of the Program in Africana Therí Pickens.

Prologue to Bates

Prologue to Bates is an open house program geared towards serving first-generation-to-college students and/or students coming from diverse backgrounds. Prologue to Bates is open to all rising high school seniors who attending high school in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, however, the committee prioritizes the selection of students who are first-generation-to-college, low-income, and/or historically underrepresented in higher education. We invite prospective students to enjoy three days on us to see a slice of what Bates College has to offer.

Discover Prologue and apply here: https://www.bates.edu/admission/prologue/

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