(NAME-MCE) College Reverses Veil Ban

[Anselmo Villanueva]

For several related stories, go to:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/08/exemption

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/07/veil

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College Reverses Veil Ban

January 8, 2010

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/08/exemption

After days of news media scrutiny and a federal civil liberties
complaint, a Massachusetts college backed down Thursday from its
security policy that seemed to be the nation’s first ban on the veils
worn by some Muslim women.

The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced
that its identification rule requiring students to wear their ID cards
and barring “any head covering that obscures a student’s face … either
on campus or at clinical sites” -- which went into effect on January 1
-- has been amended to permit students to wear face-obscuring
coverings for religious reasons.

“We will achieve our objective of campus security while allowing for a
medical and/or religious accommodation," the college said in a
statement. "As always, our primary concern is the security and safety
of all our students, faculty and staff.”

The initial version of the policy included a medical exemption but not
a religious one, which the Council for American-Islamic Relations had
first called for in December after the college notified students of
the rule. The college, said a CAIR spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, did not
take action on the request.

But, “based on a constructive dialogue with our extended community,
and an intensive review of safety and security measures with
advisors,” the college's statement said, administrators decided to
adopt the exemption. The ban on face-obscuring head coverings remains
intact for students without a medical or religious justification for a
covering.

The college would not provide more information on how the decision was
made, but it comes just a day after CAIR filed a third-party complaint
with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming the
ban would violate the rights of faculty and staff. The complaint
garnered even more news media attention for the case.

George E. Humphrey, vice president for college relations, notified
Hooper of the exemption in an e-mail message sent late Friday
afternoon. “We have reviewed our ID policy and made an accommodation
for religious reasons,” Humphrey wrote. “Thank you for your input on
this matter.”

Hooper did not indicate that he or anyone else from CAIR had had more
discussions with the college leading up to the decision, simply saying
that his group “congratulate[s] the college for ultimately doing
what’s right and what’s mandated by law.”

He added: “I think that brings the matter to an end for us.”

—  Jennifer Epstein

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Raising the Burqa

January 7, 2010

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/07/veil

The battle over banning burqas and hijabs has been waged at
universities outside the United States for years, but now the debate
has crossed the Atlantic, with a Massachusetts institution’s newest
safety measure.

As of January 1, students at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and
Health Sciences must not only wear identification cards but make sure
they are not wearing “any head covering that obscures a student’s
face," the policy reads, "for reasons of safety and security."

While some students might want to wear ski masks to cover their faces
during New England’s chilly winters and others might choose face
coverings for dubious reasons of fashion, the rule appears to most
clearly affect Muslim women.

Security concerns have led to explicit bans on Muslim veils in France
and the Netherlands. Earlier this week, an Egyptian court upheld a
university’s ban on students taking exams while wearing the hijab on
the grounds that female and male students were using the veil to
disguise themselves and cheat on exams. The same ground has yet to be
tread in the United States, but the Massachusetts college’s
first-in-the-nation ban could force the debate to begin in the land of
the First Amendment.

The college’s students must abide by the ban while on campus – the
college has three campuses, in Boston, Worcester and Manchester, New
Hampshire -- and while off-campus for internships or clinical
rotations. The only exception is for students who have a medical
condition that requires them to cover their faces.

Michael Ratty, a college spokesman, said the administrators had
identified two students who would be affected by the ban and asked
them if they were comfortable with the rule and “discussed it with
several officials within the Muslim community,” he added in a
statement.

But some Muslim advocates outside the college are not comfortable with
the policy and see it as the potential start of a dangerous trend in
the United States.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading national civil
liberties group, on Wednesday filed a third-party complaint with the
Boston office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Though
the rule is targeted at students, the group argues in its letter, it
would have “a disproportionate impact on the religious rights of
Muslim employees.”

Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s communications director, said he had found at
least one Muslim faculty member who was not happy with the rule and
“apparently took up the issue” to no avail. That professor did not
respond to interview requests.

Hooper said that after learning about the proposed rule in December,
his group asked the college to include a religious exemption in its
policy but had received no official response. “It just defies logic to
say that you can offer a medical exemption but you can’t offer a
religious one.”

Jen’nan Ghazal Read, an associate professor of sociology at Duke
University, said she is “a little shocked” by the college’s move.
“Whether or not they say this is targeted toward Muslim students, it
is,” she said. “What they are saying to them is we don’t want you.”

She added: “It’s a very significant shift for a U.S. institution of
higher education – even a private one – and a clear signal away from
acceptance."

The college’s move seems especially suspect to critics as it comes
just months after the October arrest of Tarek Mehanna, a 2008 doctoral
graduate and son of a professor, on charges that he had spent close to
a decade conspiring to attack a shopping mall, American soldiers and
two members of the executive branch of the federal government.

Ratty denied that the college’s decision to adopt the policy was at
all tied to the incident, telling The Boston Globe, “unequivocally, it
has nothing to do with that case.”

But conservative commentator Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East
Forum, said he “had no doubt” the policy was linked to the Mehanna
case and the college’s newfound sensitivity to a terror threat when he
first heard about it in early December. “Michael Ratty says no
unequivocally” to the connection, Pipes said, “and of course [the
college] can’t admit to it because it opens all sorts of legal issues,
but that connection is there.”

Ratty said the policy was formulated after a “regular review of
security measures” at the college. “The safety of our faculty, staff,
and students is our paramount concern.”

Pipes doesn’t disagree. For years he has argued that Muslim women's
head coverings – especially full-body burqas – present great security
threats. On his blog, he keeps track of terrorist attacks, jewelry
store robberies and bank heists perpetrated by women and men using the
veil to disguise themselves. “I don’t really care that the college
won’t come out and say they’re trying to prevent this,” he said in an
interview. “It’s smart of this college and they deserve support. It’s
a sensible rule for public safety, for the protection of students and
faculty.”

He added that though the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy is the
first college or university in the United States to institute a ban,
it won’t be the last. “It’s just a matter of time before this becomes
accepted fact,” he said, noting that banks and jewelry stores – even
some owned by Muslims – often ban the veil along with other
face-obscuring accessories like sunglasses and hats. “As these
criminals enter the country and attacks or attempts take place here
and around the world, we have to protect ourselves.”

At the University of Michigan at Dearborn, which has a large Muslim
population, there are no plans to adopt any such rule. “I’m not aware
of it being an issue or subject of concern here on campus,” said Tom
Hoyt, a spokesman. “We would not restrict clothing worn for religious
reasons.”

Aminah Beverly McCloud, a professor of Islamic studies at DePaul
University, said “the ban makes sense in the interest of security” at
the college and when students work in the field. It also seems like a
good step toward professionalism, she said. “Professional ethics and a
professional code of patient care seems to suggest that other people
can see your face, that your patients can see you.”

In some ways, it may just come down to familiarity. Read, at Duke, is
not Muslim but spends much of her time studying contemporary Muslim
culture. When she first encountered a student wearing the veil “it was
a little unsettling, just because you’re not used to it, and a little
distracting – will I be able to hear her speak through it?”

But, as she became used to it, it no longer distracted her. “One of my
smartest students wore a face veil.”

— Jennifer Epstein