<p>*BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) – Harvard University has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week, a move to accommodate Muslim women who, for religious and cultural reasons, cannot exercise comfortably in their presence.</p>
<p>The policy is already unpopular with many on campus, however, including some women who consider it sexist.
“I think that it’s incorrect in a college setting to institute a policy in which half of the campus gets wronged or denied a resource that’s supposed to be for everyone,” said student Lucy Caldwell, who also wrote a column in The Harvard Crimson newspaper critical of the new hours.*</p>
<p>how many gyms does Harvard have?
Is there some reason why people cannot use one of the other gyms at the time when the women are using this particular gym?</p>
<p>Harvard apparently has many gyms and for six hours a week ONE gym will be restricted- it sounds reasonable to me.</p>
<p>This is not Europe, where Muslim girls are forbidden to wear headscarves to school. This is the United States, where we make more of an effort to figure things out.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not just Muslim women who will benefit. I think that Orthodox Jewish women might also find this a positive development.</p>
<p>However- if they admit these students knowing the structures of their religion & wish to support their right to follow their belief, by forcing them to go against the strictures of their religion in order to utilize wanted services/supports of the university, isn’t that discriminatory?</p>
<p>What’s the big deal? There are private female-only fitness clubs (Curves, anyone?). Harvard is a private school and can set its policies the way it wants. I’m sure there will be other, non-Muslim girls who’d be happy to exersice without male presence.</p>
<p>I think it is a GOOD idea–as long as any female can use the gym during the designated hoursi.e., young women of other faiths are not made to feel unwelcome. Hey, maybe they’d even end up with some Muslim and Orthodox Jewish girls becoming friends at the gym! </p>
<p>What’s the difference between all-female gym hours to accommodate someone’s religious beliefs and kosher food to accommodate someone’s religious beliefs? Or different places of worship for different faiths? Or single-sex bathrooms, for that matter?</p>
<p>I think it is more than that - Harvard has received very large donation (if I am not mistaken from Bin Laden family), and large donors have their way.</p>
<p>"Harvards ties to bin Laden money have come into question before. In 1998, after Osama bin Laden was accused of the embassy bombings in Africa, then-University spokespeson Alex S. Huppé said, Its clear the Saudi bin Laden money is being put to good use here.</p>
<p>^^^The plot thickens…or should I say, the stew. ITA with Simba. Stew is a complete infusion of textures and favors, there’s no separation. Just a delightful balance of each ingredient, one does not trump the other. Pass the biscuits please.</p>
<p>Here is another accommodation demanded by Muslim female medical students in England, they would not remove their arm coverings to scrub up in prep for an operation (to reduce chance of infection from bacteria such as MRSA.)</p>
<p>Last year a Muslim girl on a travel soccer team in New Jersey fought the club to the highest level, even taking it to court, to be allowed to wear her head scarf while playing on the field.</p>
<p>I’m okay with that.</p>
<p>But…</p>
<p>the newspaper features a picture of her playing, with her headscarf…</p>
<p>Here is another accommodation demanded by Muslim female medical students in England, they would not remove their arm coverings to scrub up in prep for an operation (to reduce chance of infection from bacteria such as MRSA.)</p>
<p>I have no problem with the gym, but everyone needs to wash their hands and arms prior to an operation. That’s just silly.</p>
<p>Obviously Harvard, as a private institution, can do what it wants.</p>
<p>However, I believe this decision is absurd. The Muslim girls have every right in the world to practice their religion, believe what they believe, and all that. That does not, and should not, give them the right to impose their beliefs on others - and that is what this is.</p>
<p>It’s a small inconvenience, but it isn’t the size of the inconvenience that worries me in any way. It’s the discriminatory reasoning behind it. In the same way I would be opposed to “men-only” gym hours, or anything like that. Imagine if a group of white supremacist students asked for a couple of hours each week for “whites-only” time? Would everyone be OK with that? I mean, it’s only a small inconvenience…</p>
<p>Yes, in the final reckoning, this is not going to destroy the lives of any of the people who live near and use that gym; at most it will slightly inconvenience them. But I do not find the level of inconvenience to be particularly relevant to whether or not a discriminatory policy is wrong. It is wrong because it is discriminatory, period.</p>
<p>What would be my preferred solution? A voluntary one - the kind of voluntary religious accommodation that makes America such an accepting community. Something like “to accommodate Muslim female students, we would appreciate it if you tempted to not use the gym during the following hours” and let the students deal with it. If they choose to be accommodating, then all is good, but Harvard doesn’t have to shove a discriminatory policy down their throats to do that.</p>
<p>Same as with Kosher meals, students can chose whether to eat them or go for the pepperoni pizza. There are other gyms that are open to all students, and they are welcome to use them at the times this one is “ladies only”. If they close all of their gyms to guys at certain times, that would be discriminatory.</p>