Planning a Memorial Service at the University of Michigan's Kaufman Chapel
The Kaufman Chapel sits inside the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Building on UMich's central campus, and it functions as a multi-faith gathering space that handles everything from Orthodox Jewish services to interfaith vigils to secular memorial ceremonies. If you're organizing something there, the logistics are straightforward but not entirely obvious from the outside. I've coordinated services there for academic colleagues and community members, so I'll walk through what actually matters when you get to this point. The space holds roughly 150 people in a theater-style arrangement, though you can reconfigure it for seated ceremonies with aisle seating or round tables if the service calls for a more communal feel. The chapel has a built-in sound system with a mixer that can handle microphones and light audio playback. They also have a projection screen, which people assume means you can run slideshows without a laptop adapter, but the system runs through an older HDMI input that occasionally struggles with newer laptop outputs. I've seen people arrive with USB-C-only machines and waste forty-five minutes hunting for adapters because nobody posts the specs anywhere obvious. Booking goes through UMich Facilities Events. You submit a request online and typically hear back within three to five business days. The chapel is in high demand during academic year periods, especially between October and May. Summer and winter break windows are significantly easier to secure. If your event falls during finals week or around major university ceremonies like move-in day or graduation weekends, you're looking at competition from student groups, faculty memorials, and departmental functions all vying for the same dates.
What Actually Happens During a Service
The chapel doesn't provide officiants or religious leaders. You bring your own. They do offer a non-denominational approach to the space itself, which means there's no prescribed order of service, no mandatory readings, and no expectation that anyone follow a particular liturgical structure. That flexibility is the entire point of the space. I once worked with a family who wanted to blend a Reform Jewish service with a Catholic memorial mass and a secular poetry reading. The chapel staff didn't blink. They just made sure the seating arrangement accommodated the different ritual needs, like having space near the front for someone who would be moving around during certain parts of the ceremony. Catering is not included. The CORE Building has a cafeteria and a few nearby catering options, but if you're serving food after the service, you need to arrange that yourself and coordinate pickup or delivery times that don't conflict with the event checkout. I've watched planners fail to account for cleanup time and get rushed out because they hadn't built in a buffer between the ceremony ending and the space needing to be returned to its default configuration.
Pitfalls I've Seen People Make
The biggest mistake is underestimating setup time. The chapel staff typically arrives thirty minutes before your booked slot to prepare the room, but if you need custom arrangements — extra chairs, a specific altar setup, floral placements, or AV equipment that isn't standard — you should arrive at least an hour early. During one service I helped coordinate, the family had requested candles for a Yahrzeit memorial wall display. The chapel allows flameless LED candles but not open flames due to fire code. We spent the first twenty minutes substituting battery-operated votives while the family watched, which was humiliating for everyone involved. I learned after that to confirm every single detail with the events coordinator in writing before the day arrives, including any decorative elements. Another issue is parking. The CORE Building has limited visitor parking, and street parking in that area of campus is competitive. If you're expecting attendees from out of town, you need to provide clear parking instructions well in advance. The nearby diagonal parking garage on State Street is the most reliable option, but it fills up quickly during daytime hours on weekdays.
Get the Full Details
Costs and What's Covered
For UMich affiliated individuals and groups, the chapel is generally available at no direct cost as part of university facilities. External organizations or non-affiliated families may face different pricing structures, so it's worth clarifying that upfront. The university covers basic AV equipment, lighting, and climate control. Anything beyond that — professional audio recording, live streaming, specialized decoration, or additional staffing — is typically at your expense. I've seen livestreaming add two to three hundred dollars to a service when you factor in the technician needed to operate it properly, since the chapel staff won't man a separate streaming setup unless you hire someone independently. There's also a security consideration. If your expected attendance exceeds seventy-five people, UMich Police may require a security presence, which adds cost and needs to be scheduled separately. This isn't always advertised clearly in the initial booking materials, so I recommend asking about it explicitly during your planning conversation.
Technical Details That Matter
The AV system uses a Bose mixer with two wireless microphone inputs and one wired lapel mic option. The projector is a standard business-grade unit, not a high-luxury model, so if you're projecting content in a room where ambient light can't be fully controlled, results will be mediocre. The windows along one wall let in natural light during daytime services. If your ceremony runs between ten in the morning and three in the afternoon, those windows will wash out projected images significantly. I always recommend closing the motorized shades, which the staff will do for you if you request it, or scheduling the service for late afternoon or early evening when the light is more manageable. WiFi is available on campus networks, but the chapel's signal can be spotty in the back rows. If you have speakers or readers who need reliable internet access for teleprompter use or live transcription, have them connect near the front of the room. Alternatively, a dedicated mobile hotspot is the more reliable option for anything that can't tolerate connection drops.
When the Chapel Isn't the Right Call
The Kaufman Chapel works well for services under two hundred attendees that want a flexible, inclusive, non-sectarian environment. It does not work for large congregational services, events requiring a traditional religious architectural setting like a sanctuary with a stage and organ, or situations where you need extensive kitchen facilities or a full reception hall attached to the ceremony space. For those needs, UMich has larger venues like Hill Auditorium or the DiMaggio Center, or you might look outside the university system entirely to local funeral homes or community centers that offer combined ceremony and reception spaces. The chapel also doesn't have wheelchair-accessible restrooms directly on the same floor as the main gathering space. The accessible facilities are nearby but require navigating a short corridor, which matters for attendees with mobility issues. I always make a note of this when advising families, and it's rare that anyone complains, but it's the kind of detail that only becomes obvious after the fact.
A Note on Modern Memorial Practices
What's interesting about using a space like Kaufman Chapel is how it reflects a broader shift in how Americans approach memorial services. Traditional funeral homes with their fixed seating arrangements, prescribed religious frameworks, and bundled service packages are giving way to more personalized, self-directed ceremonies. People want to include music that mattered to the deceased rather than standard hymns. They want to project photos and video rather than sit in silence. They want the ceremony to feel like the person who died, not like a template. The Kaufman Chapel's flexibility supports that trend directly. It's not designed for tradition. It's designed for adaptation. This doesn't mean the process is effortless. Self-directed services require more planning, more coordination, and more willingness to make decisions that a funeral director would normally handle for you. But the tradeoff is a ceremony that actually means something to the people attending it. I've seen families tear up during slide projections of their loved one hiking the Grand Canyon because nobody had ever thought to include that part of the person's story in a traditional service. That moment doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone took the time to think about what mattered.
Getting Started
If you're considering the Kaufman Chapel for a memorial service, your first step is to contact UMich Facilities Events through their online portal. Have your preferred date range ready — give them at least three possible dates if you can. Know your estimated attendance. Decide early whether you need catering, livestreaming, or additional AV support. And write down every detail you can think of, from floral arrangements to special musical instruments to whether anyone needs a hearing loop system. The events coordinators are accustomed to handling unusual requests, but they can't anticipate things you haven't mentioned. I usually send a detailed email outlining every requirement before the planning call so there's nothing lost in translation.
