Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Harvard U. gym sets up man ban


BOSTON Establishes hours for Muslim women only

BOSTON -- Harvard University has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week to accommodate Muslim women who say it offends their sense of modesty to exercise in front of the opposite sex.
The policy is already unpopular with many on campus, 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.
Student Ola Aljawhary, who is Muslim, rejected that argument. ''The majority should be willing to compromise,'' she said. ''I think that's just basic courtesy.''
Six Muslim women asked the university for the special hours, spokesman Robert Mitchell said.


suntimes

1 comment:

  1. Oh, please, Harvard, spare us the righteous political correctness. Enlightened Westerners, especially women, rant and rave without compunction about the Islamic world’s backward treatment of women. And rightly so. Yet Harvard expects its paying male population to be respectful of Islamic women’s medieval notions about men? Even when it deprives men of access to a University resource that is supposed to available to everyone? You know, Title IX and all that. Would a fair-minded person sense a double standard here? The question scarcely survives its statement.

    It is unfathomable why parents of young Harvard men who are paying staggering tuition would allow their sons to be treated as second class citizens. News flash to Harvard: the young men you are banning are the customers. You work for them.

    It is unfortunate that Muslim women don't feel comfortable exercising around men. But the world doesn't stop to accommodate my discomfort or, I dare say, the discomfort of men in general. If a small group of Catholic men sought, in good faith, to ban women from the gym for similar periods of time because their skimpy outfits had become near occasions of sin for them, we all know damn well what Harvard’s response would be. Why is this different? We all know why. The “protected class” is the right sex and the right religion.

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