At the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, two Muslim women can once again choose to attend class wearing the niqab, a veil which covers the entire face except for the eyes, after the school lifted a hotly protested policy banning students from wearing the garment.
Students received a notice on Dec. 8 regarding a new policy to go into effect Jan. 1 amending MCPHS’s Identification Policy. The policy stated, ‘Any head covering that obscures a student’s face may not be worn, either on campus or at clinical sites, except when required for medical reasons.’
The new rule would have made MCPHS the only college in the nation banning clothing that covers the face.
The amendment was met with outcry and media attention. Many believed that the policy was made in connection with the arrest of Tarek Mehanna, a 2008 alumnus and son of a professor at the MCPHS who was charged with involvement in an attempted terrorist attack last October.
Although MCPHS denied any influence Mehanna’s arrest might have had on the policy changes on campus, some students believed otherwise.
‘Judging by the things that have been in the media from people in our school in the last few months, it was pretty obvious,’ sixth-year MCPHS student Samrah Naseem said.
Naseem said that during her six years at MCPHS there had not been any students wearing the niqab. However, last semester, there were two exchange students from Saudi Arabia who chose to cover their faces.
MCPHS’s Muslim Student Association President Aisha Bajwa said she was shocked when she learned about the amendment to the identification policy in December.
‘I think that it was very un-American and unconstitutional,’ Bajwa said.
The Council of American-Islamic Relations announced on Jan. 6 that they were asking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the identification policy because of the fear that it would affect Muslim employees unfairly.
A day later, MCPH alerted the press that the identification policy had been amended for religious accommodations.
Students were informed of the change in policy in an email from Dean of Students Jean Joyce-Brady last Monday, on the first day of class of this new spring semester.
The email said, ‘Facial coverings will be required to be removed for identification purposes at entrances to the college, during exams and when a college security need exists ‘hellip; Facial coverings for medical and/or religious accommodations can be worn inside campus buildings once identification and security needs are met.’
MCPHS spokesman Michael Ratty said that he is uncertain as to whether or not the two exchange students from Saudi Arabia who choose to wear the niqab will have to remove their veils publically at the entrance. Ratty also confirmed that the women would have to remove the niqab when taking a test as well.
Islamic students at MCPHS said they were relieved that accommodations had been made to the policy.
‘That should have been the exception in the first place,’ Bajwa said.
Zikra Kaleem, a practicing Muslim and a fourth-year student at MCPHS, said she is also pleased with the compromise.
‘Security is important in any situation but at the same time, religious freedom is an important part of living here,’ Kaleem said.
Boston University’s Islamic Society President Hassan Awaisi said he is glad that MCPHS is attending to the religious needs of students, but is worried that the action may be a symbol of racism towards Islam.
‘People are afraid of the niqab, that’s why it was banned in my opinion,’ Awaisi said .’I just feel like its another way of demonizing Islam.’
BU Islamic Society Secretary Nida Shuttari said she understands why greater security measures need to be enforced.
‘It makes sense they need to know who is in the building and who they are. It makes sense for this day and time,’ Shuttari said. ‘Since they had that medical exemption I think that’s its great that they had a religious exemption.’
However, some students also worried that there might be a lingering stigma surrounding the niqab.
‘The girls who would have had to cover, I’m sure they feel very uncomfortable now knowing that [the ban] was indirectly pointed towards them,’ Naseem said, ‘I think that it has defiantly left some further distances from those girls and the rest of the students.’
‘It’s a little unsettling, there are countries which have made laws that Muslim women cannot wear hair coverings in public universities,’ Yasmin Hosein member of the Islamic society said. ‘Its scary to think that your rights can be taken away even though you are supposed to be guaranteed them as an American in this country.’
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