<p>All I’m saying is that there is not the same kind of liberal love for Christianity as there is Islam on college campuses. Did you hear about the Pace University student that tossed the Koran in the toilet just recently? He is getting charged with a hate crime and could spend 4 years in jail. I remember not too long ago someone stuck a crucifix in a jar of urine and the college thought it was great ‘art’ and displayed it. If you don’t see the difference I don’t know if you ever will.</p>
<p>I guess I feel like because I’m Catholic, if I really wanted to, I could probably have gone to a Catholic or Christian college which abounds with a “liberal love for Christianity”, I’m not aware of other member of religious groups having the same privilege (and certainly not on the same scale). Regardless, the college I currently attend as well as the one I transferred from both offer specialized services for different religious groups (including Christian organizations). </p>
<p>To your second point, I guess I should start by saying I’m not an Art history major, or someone who generally spends a lot of time analyzing artwork, but since you bring it up, it wasn’t as though Andres Serrano’s “**** Christ” didn’t attract a lot of negative media attention (as well as talk in the Senate), but I think ultimately because he is an artist, his actions really aren’t comparable to those at Pace. Newsday published an article about the incidents (here: <a href=“Long Island News | Nassau & Suffolk - Newsday”>Long Island News | Nassau & Suffolk - Newsday) which explains that: “The incidents came amid a spate of vandalism cases with religious or racial overtones at the school. In an earlier incident on Sept. 21, the school reported another copy of the Quran was found in a library toilet, and in October someone scrawled racial slurs on a student’s car at the Westchester County satellite campus and on a bathroom wall at the campus in lower Manhattan.” I think harassing fellow students is different from questionable artwork, though both incidents make me personally uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Though I’m not sure what they have to do with trying to accommodate students by remodeling bathrooms.</p>
<p>They’ll just get used as urinals and then everyone will get ticked off.</p>
<p>Haha chuy, hopefully not in the women’s bathroom!</p>
<p>Well yeah, I’m talking about in the mens. I’m serious though, the image I’m getting of a footwashing station looks a lot like a urinal, and that’s what people will use it as. Not disrespectful or anything, it’s just what the mind jumps to first when you see something that looks like that in a bathroom.</p>
<p>I’m going to second chuy on this one, it would be hard to tell the difference. On the floor, holes at the bottom of it, running water, yep definatley would be used as a urinal to any non Muslim.</p>
<p>We really don’t have any Muslim’s at my college, so I can’t directly relate how they are treated in relation to other faiths but the whole foot bath thing is completely overboard.</p>
<p>“Generally, public univerisities do not provide kosher meals at dining halls. Instead, observant Jews go to the Hillel for their meals.”</p>
<p>kollegkid, that’s just not true at many, many public universities. The whole “oh no church and state” thing is even more of a red herring when it comes to kosher and halal food–if there’s a demand for it, why shouldn’t the university provide it? Why should observant Jewish and Muslim students’ money go to dining halls where they can’t eat when the (hypothetical, non-existent) university is deliberately refusing to provide food that there’s a market and a need for? It’s not like non-Jews can’t eat kosher food, just like non-Muslims can easily use a foot-wash if they need it.</p>
<p>If a school has a small Jewish population, there probably won’t be a kosher cafeteria; if the population is significant, there almost certainly will be, because it makes sense and people don’t see that kind of concession as being threatening. To say that CUNY Queens College shouldn’t have a kosher caf because it’s a violation of the separation of church and state would be ridiculous–the school might as well cut the size of its cafeteria in half if they did that! And it’s pretty much true that Queens is to Jews as Dearborn is to Muslims… so it seems like a real no-brainer.</p>
<p>I personally would love footwashes! As someone who goes around barefoot quite often, this would be wonderful.</p>
<p>Also, to whoever said there aren’t accommodations for Christians- what ARE you talking about? All major Christian holidays are days off from school and work. That cannot be said for the plethora of Jewish, Muslim, and other religious holidays. There are also plenty of Christian colleges to attend. There are only a few Jewish colleges- most of which are mostly theological, and then Brandeis which is Jewish founded. There is also one Buddhist university. Beyond that- nothing. However, if there was a Muslim college, how fast would this country be on it as a hotbed of extremism? </p>
<p>I honestly don’t see why this is such a big deal. If there is a demand for it, it should be met. If it was any other religious observance, there would not be this kind of uproar.</p>
<p>Really, it isn’t a religious issue to me at all. If the students are paying the fees and the school decides they’d get enough use then yeah, go ahead. All that I’m saying is there’s going to be a huge controversy over people peeing in them, and is it really worth that? Is there some way to make it obvious (to a drunk person, remember) that it is made for feet and nothing else?</p>
<p>^ All the foot washes I’ve seen are basically a flatter sink that’s set about 1 ft off the floor, really, it’s not like you can’t pee in a sink, not exactly ideal, but it’s not like it’s going to really cause any actual problems (though it may cause issues religion-wise, don’t really know anything about Islam)</p>
<p>That’s what I’m saying the issue is going to be. People will be peeing in the and then will get accused of “disrespecting the religion,” but unless it’s really obvious it’s going to be accidental. I highly doubt it’ll be cool with the muslims to pee in their foot washes.</p>
<p>How do Muslims handle the whole student loan issue? Isn’t borrowing money prohibited for Muslims? Is there an accomodation made for those who do not wish to borrow money? Do they get larger grants?</p>
<p>Another question - what happens if a menstruating woman uses the foot bath to clean her flip-flop filthy feet? Would Muslim men still be able to use the foot bath?</p>
<p>As I understand it, the foot baths will be in unisex restrooms.</p>
<p>Ah, I thought you meant just from the physical “peeing in the foot wash” because you said you didn’t view the issue in a religious light.</p>
<p>If it’s done intentionally to insult (I really don’t see any sober guy being stupid enough to mistake a footwash for a urinal after it’s been installed for a time) I think that it should be punished.</p>
<p>Ive only seen one genuine foot wash station, and it didnt look anything like a urinal. It looked more like showers ontop of a huge marble platform. People will probably not get this confused and pee in it, so i doubt that will be a problem unless some people decide do be idiots and do it on purpose. Since they spent 25000 dollars, im guessing its a pretty sick wudu station. Since the school’s major demograph is muslim, it makes sense that they would create a wudu station. I dont think they should have spent that much on it tho. </p>
<p>Does anyone know where it is? Is it just in the middle of nowhere or is it near a mosque or something?</p>
<p>If the bathrooms are gender-neutral and there’s an issue with using the same facilities as a menstruating woman, they would have had the same problem with the sinks anyway!</p>
<p>I’m Pastafarian and I believe that I need to pray 3 times a day at altars specifically designed for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. They must be pre-approved by a priest from the Flying Spaghetti Monster church. If I don’t pray at them, the Flying Spaghetti Monster will damn me to Flying Spaghetti Hell when I die. I want my university to construct some altars for it. It costs the university money. What should I do?!?!?!? :(</p>
<p>Dress up like a pirate, and pray for Beer Volcanos and Stripper Factories until you feel touched by His Noodly Appendage.</p>
<p>As a muslim, this is incredibly stupid. You don’t need a bath designed for your feet. I’ve prayed plenty of times by using a sink, and by plenty of times, I mean every time.</p>
<p>I’m a Muslim and I think this is a ridiculous and unfair use of college money. However, any Muslims who stick their feet in public sinks should be ashamed. That’s gross and unnecessary. There is a certain way to do your cleansing, so that you don’t have to wash your feet in the sink. You don’t even need water for one method.
kollegekid, Muslims cannot take loans out that they must payback with interest. I don’t know any Muslims who follow this rule. All the Muslims I know have mortgages on their homes, which they pay interest on. However, there are Muslim companies who offer non-interest mortgages, but they have yearly fees…most of these companies can only loan up to 200,000$ anyhow, so no one really uses them.</p>
<p>They DO NOT get more grant money. That would be completely unfair…universities offers all students who qualify (based on financial status) interest free government loans, which I guess they could take. Like I said, I don’t know how many Muslims follow the no interest rule, so they probably just take regular loans if necessary.</p>
<p>The idea of no interest loans, and the discouragement of taking loans is because one does not want to be buried under debt…it does not mean that even if you are in moderation you are breaking rules.</p>