Sunday, October 30, 2011
Concerns over Muslim Students’ Rights at Catholic University
There are some concerns of rights of Muslim students at Catholic University. The Washington DC Office of Human Rights is currently investigating. These concerns are over questions of whether or not Catholic violated their human rights by not allowing them to form a Muslim student group and furthermore not offering them a room free of Catholic symbols to perform their meeting and required prayer. The symbols that are currently in the school include: “a wooden crucifix, paintings of Jesus, pictures of priests and theologians” that most Muslim student found inappropriate; some noted that they had to pray in the school’s main chapel.
The office explains that this investigation is not going to be instantaneous. A complaint was filed by John Banzhaf and that is how the investigation began. He is an attorney as well as a professor. He was involved in previous cases against the university regarding same sex residence halls and treatment of Muslim females.
A spokesperson from the university did state that their religion allowed for an open home for all religions. The school explained that they offer rooms and chapels for the students to pray, and that they even offer meats that conform to Halal regulations (Muslim eating rules) allowing the students to “do what they want”.
Although Banzhaf does explain that it is not illegal for the school to not offer rooms for the prayer, this situation does bring up some concerns of the constitutionality of what’s occurring. This could actually be a situation of both establishment and free exercise. But before one can unpack the specifics, it is important to recognize that this article is a bit troubling because of the lack of clear information. Nothing seems to have been confirmed. The school has not issues a public statement about the entire investigation, the Office of Human Rights has not disclosed what is currently happening. So, these rumors could be over-exaggerations.
This could be viewed as concern over establishment, because it is a Catholic university that is “purposing” not allowing their (like a) minority group of Muslim individuals practice what their religion requires. Because of this the university is establishing their religion on all of its students.
But what seems like might be more feasible is these Muslims inability to freely exercise their religious freedom. They are being directly prevented from having an accessible room to pray. They could pray in the middle of the hallway or classroom, but they would likely get charged for disrupting the piece. It is understandable them not being allowed to form this students group, if, and only if, the school has a strict policy against religious and atheist groups being formed through the school. If there are currently Catholic or any other religious/non-religious groups a part of campus, the university not allowing the Muslim students to do the same is not ok.
This is important because it is regarding a minority and because there is precedent. We have been exposed to other cases and investigations over students wanting to form religious group. A great example is the case of West Side Community School vs. Mergens where students want to have a bible study group, yet the school will not let them because they do not want their faculty to be there (which is a rule for student groups) because of the school’s concern over establishment. Students say this is unacceptable because it is against the equal access act. The court ruled with the students on this saying that it was ok because: it was outside of class hours, it was voluntary, the sponsor wasn’t paid, other clubs were allowed to meet, these were mature kids, and because of the Lemen test. If the court follows this precedent, then the Muslim students have to be allowed to meet. Lastly, the implications of how this case is ruled could prove that the country embodies islamaphobia. This is extremely important to how the Supreme Court and the educational system view Muslims let alone religious minorities in general. This case is also important because it involves both the free exercise clause and the establishment clause. It looks how they relate and intertwine. This would be an interesting case to have the Supreme Court rule on; wonder if they would side in favor of the minorities? The precedent for that has been no.
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