On its face, Harvard University’s decision to try offering women-only hours at a campus gym in deference to a Muslim student group appears to have all the makings of a heated religious debate. The faith factor is the reason Harvard’s decision made news at all, just as the University of Michigan-Dearborn did last August when it spent thousands of dollars installing prayer foot baths in campus bathrooms.
The decision at Harvard does harbor many of the same religious overtones, but it should not garner the same level of debate as other questions of religious tolerance. In fact, many non-Muslim women may find the single-sex hours to their liking. In that case, the Islamic student group that requested the change will have offered an added benefit to their community rather than a burden.
From bans on head scarves in French schools to the Sikh students carrying ceremonial knives in America, academic officials inevitably generate controversy when accommodating religious dictates in places where many religious beliefs intersect. Universities face the difficult charge of creating a tolerant environment for every creed while ensuring they do not side with minority groups at an unacceptable expense to the student body as a whole. U-M Dearborn faced the consequences of a tough decision when it remodeled bathrooms with foot baths to allow its sizable population of Muslim students to conduct ritual ablutions during midday prayers. Some Christian groups complained the university spent a disproportionate amount of money on Muslim students while taking a secular stance toward other faiths.
Though there is no hard and fast rule for dealing with a topic as touchy as religious belief, colleges should decide on these issues by weighing the importance certain students place on a particular mandate against any adverse effects that mandate might have on other students. Most colleges, including Boston University, already reasonably spend time and money making special arrangements for students’ faiths, whether through non-electronic locks in houses for Jewish students observing Shabbat or through all-female specialty houses.
Harvard’s trial hours will not be the first concession it has made to any religious group. The hours will force some men to adjust their workout schedules, but it will cost far less than changes like kosher meal plans, since it is free. Even if some student groups weigh in against the change, Harvard should keep its special hours if they benefit enough students. Since Muslim women are unlikely to be the only female students who prefer exercising without the social pressures of the opposite sex, Harvard will have a tough time revoking its change.