Public schools and universities across the country are considering Muslim students’ requests for religious accommodation during Ramadan, the holy month of prayer and fasting, which continues through Oct. 12. Accommodations can include separate rooms where fasting students can go during lunch; places for students to perform daily prayers; the consideration of requests to make Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that ends Ramadan, a school holiday; and the installation of footbaths in restrooms to make it easier for students to follow prayer rituals.

Most school officials try to grant such requests, according to observers, but such accommodations also bring challenges from those who claim they violate church-state separation by giving one religious group special treatment. Here are some of the more recent controversies involving religious accommodations of Muslims and other groups in public schools from the elementary to the university level:

• The San Diego Unified School District is under scrutiny after allowing Muslim students at Carver Elementary School 15 minutes a day for prayer. A teacher claimed the students were led in prayer by a school aide, a violation of U.S. Department of Education guidelines. The school is now being monitored by religious and civil rights groups. (See a July 2, 2007, San Diego Union-Tribune story.)
• The University of Michigan-Dearborn is steeped in controversy after a decision to use $25,000 in student fees to install footbaths in campus restrooms. The footbaths are seen as an accommodation for Muslim students, who must wash their feet and hands before prayer. The Minneapolis Community and Technical College was bombarded with hate mail when it, too, announced plans to install footbaths. (See an Aug. 29, 2007, Washington Times story.)
• In September the New York City-based Stop the Madrassa coalition announced the launch of a national organization, Citizens for American Values in Public Education. The group’s news release says it will “expand the fight nationwide to stop the imposition of radical Islamist agendas in curricula, Arabic language programs, history classes, textbooks, teacher training, and charter schools,” which the group considers unconstitutional religious accommodation. It says the organization will begin distributing a publication called “Stop the Madrassa: A Citizens Guide to Islamist Curricula in Public Schools” nationally.
• The opening of two public schools that cater to two particular cultural groups has raised questions about religious accommodation and whether public funds should support schools with religious focuses. In New York, the newly opened Khalil Gibran International Academy emphasizes Arabic, and in Hollywood, Fla., the Ben Gamla Charter School emphasizes Hebrew. Both have drawn critics. (See a Sept. 5, 2007, story in Education Week.)
• At the forefront of the push for religious accommodation in public universities is the Muslim Students Association, which has formed a Muslim Accommodations Task Force to push for footbaths and prayer rooms. At least 17 universities have footbaths built or under construction, including Boston University, George Washington University and Temple University, and nine universities have prayer rooms designated exclusively for Muslim students, including Stanford University, Emory University and the University of Virginia.
• In New York City, Muslim groups are seeking the recognition of two Muslim holidays as school holidays. (Read a May 16, 2007, Norwood News article posted by New York State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr.) Also in New York, in February the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court decision that allows New York City public schools to display a menorah during Hanukkah and a star and crescent during Ramadan, while banning a crèche at Christmastime. (See a Feb. 22, 2007, Christian Science Monitor story posted by the Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy.)
• There is a growing movement among Muslims to have Eid al-Fitr, the festival which marks the end of Ramadan, recognized as a public school holiday.
• When a Cincinnati-area school set aside a room for Muslim students during lunch periods for Ramadan in 2006, a local school board official accused the school of being overly accommodating. (Read a Feb. 11, 2007, Boston Globe story about challenges Muslims face in the “heartland” of America and an Oct. 26, 2006, Cincinnati Enquirer story about the Ramadan debate. The latter is posted by Jewsonfirst.org.)
• A public school in Wiscasset, Maine, opened a “wellness room” for students and staff to use outside of class time for the reduction of stress. The room can be used for many stress-reduction practices, some of which have a religious origin, such as prayer, meditation, yoga and Reiki, which sparked a community debate. (Read an Aug. 26, 2007, New York Times column by Harvard University law professor Noah Feldman in which he holds up the wellness room as a good solution to a church-state conflict in schools. It’s posted by Harvard Law School.)

Why it matters

Public schools are one of the primary places where Americans negotiate how to live with their religious differences. School officials often find themselves confronting gray areas where laws and court rulings aren’t clear. These challenges are becoming more common as the country becomes religiously diverse and as various groups become more committed to the practice or public expression of their faith.

Questions for reporters

How do schools in your area accommodate Muslim students requests during Ramadan? What do non-Muslim students, parents and educators think about the accommodations? Is there a push to make Eid al-Fitr or other religious holidays school holidays in your area?

National sources

For more sources, consult ReligionLink’s guide to Muslim experts and organizations.

• Salam Al-Marayati is executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Contact 213-383-3443 (in Los Angeles), 202-547-7701 (in Washington, D.C.), salam@mpac.org.
• Ihsan Bagby is an associate professor of Islamic studies in the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He studies Muslims in the United States. In 2001 he published the results of the first comprehensive study of mosques in America for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, on whose board he serves. Contact 859-257-9638, iabagb2@uky.edu.
• Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State debated the issue of religious accommodation in public schools on the Fox television program “Big Story Weekend” on July 30, 2007. Contact 202-466-3234, boston@au.org.
• Brad Dacus is the chief counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, Calif., a nonprofit legal defense organization that is helping to develop a districtwide prayer policy for the San Diego Unified School District. Contact 916-857-6900.
• Noah Feldman is a law professor at Harvard University and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He wrote an Aug. 26, 2007, article for The New York Times Sunday Magazine (posted by Harvard Law School) on current conflicts over religion in public schools in which he described the footbaths at the University of Michigan as a reasonable accommodation. Contact 617-495-9140, nfeldman@law.harvard.edu.
• Derek Gaubatz is director of litigation for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The fund intervened on behalf of Muslim students in Richardson, Texas, when the principal of their high school prevented them from praying during school at Ramadan. See the Becket Fund’s synopsis of the case. Contact via Patrick Gallagherat 202-349-7204, pgallagher@becketfund.org.
• Jeremy Gunn is director of the Freedom of Religion and Belief program at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. He has said some accommodations for Muslims, such as the footbaths at the University of Michigan, are in a murky area of the law. He can discuss religious expression in schools both in the U.S. and throughout the world. Contact via John Kennedy, 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org.
• Charles Haynes is a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum. He has written that the line between reasonable religious accommodation and the violation of the Establishment Clause is razor-thin and that allowing students to pray during school is reasonable, but that releasing them from class to attend a prayer service on school grounds is a violation of the Constitution. He can discuss cases of religious accommodation in public schools. Contact 703-528-0800, chaynes@freedomforum.org.
• M. Zuhdi Jasser is founder and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which promotes separation of mosque and state. He has said that “unusual accommodations” for one faith is not pluralism. AIFD is based in Phoenix, Ariz. Contact 602-254-1840.
• Edina Lekovic is the communications director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. She debated the subject of religious accommodation in the public schools on the Fox television program “Big Story Weekend” on July 30, 2007. She said she did not think most Muslims would support a school-sanctioned prayer. Contact communications@mpac.org.
• Hadia Mubarak is a senior researcher at the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and became the first woman elected as president of the Muslim Students Association in 2004. She is the author of a paper titled “How Muslim Students Negotiate Their Religious Identity and Practices in an Undergraduate Setting.” Contact hm85@georgetown.edu.
• Elinor Pierce is a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Pluralism Project. She can discuss the effort to recognize Eid al-Fitr as a public school holiday. Contact 617-496-2481.
• Jane I. Smith is professor of Islamic studies and co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She specializes in Muslim communities in America. She is co-editor of the journal The Muslim World. Contact 860-509-9532, jismith@hartsem.edu.
• Stop the Madrassa Coalition was formed after the opening of Khalil Gibran International Academy, a charter school that focuses on teaching Arabic. Contact via Christine Brim, 703-425-3267, christine@vigilantfreedom.com.
• Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has spoken out against the display of religious symbols in public schools. The group recently aligned itself with the Stop the Madrassa Coalition to challenge public funding of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arabic language charter school, in New York City. Contact via Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications, 212-371-3191, catalyst@catholicleague.org.
• Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy, a nonprofit that looks for threats to American security and works to draw public and government attention to those threats. He is a supporter of the Stop the Madrassa Coalition and has been critical of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in New York City. Contact 202-835-9077.
• Alan Sears is president and general counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal defense organization in Scottsdale, Ariz., that supports Christian prayer in the public schools. The group’s Web site marks public school accommodation of Muslims as an “emerging issue.” Contact 1-800-TELL-ADF.
• Richard Thompson is president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, a nonprofit legal defense group in Ann Arbor, Mich., dedicated to protecting the religious liberty of Christians. He has been critical of public schools that accommodate the religious needs of Muslim students. The center recently agreed to represent the Stop the Madrassa Coalition in its challenge to the Khalil Gibran International Academy in New York City. Contact 734-827-2001.
• Lisa Soronen is a lawyer for the National School Boards Association. She can discuss the various lawsuits brought by Muslims and members of other faiths for religious accommodation in the public schools. Contact via Linda Embrey in media relations,703-838-6737, lembrey@nsba.org.
• John Whitehead is president of the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group that represented an Oklahoma Muslim student suspended for wearing a hijab in 2003. He has said that schools are increasingly confronting issues involving religious accommodations for school dress codes. The institute is based in Charlottesville, Va. Contact 434-978-3888.

• One Nation — a philanthropic collaborative led by Muslims and non-Muslims from leading nonprofit public education and advocacy organizations, think tanks, corporations and academic institutions – lists experts on Islam and education. Contact Sharene Azimi at Fenton Communications, 212-584-5000, sazimi@fenton.com.

Background

• The University of Southern California maintains a Web site on the essentials of Ramadan.
• The Islamic information Web site Sound Vision posts a page describing six steps to getting religious accommodation in the public schools.
• Americans United for the Separation of Church and State publishes a brochure outlining the rights of students and parents to religious expression in the public schools.
• Read a Feb. 28, 2007, story in the St. Petersburg Times about Hillsborough County Schools canceling school holidays that fall on religious holidays for the 2007-08 school year. The change came after divisive debate about which religious holidays should be designated school holidays.
• See a July 21, 2006, Associated Press story posted by USA Today about public schools juggling the holidays of various religions, including Islam.
• Read a Sept. 5, 2005, Associated Press story about a national push by Muslims for religious accommodation in public schools. It’s posted by the First Amendment Center.

• Read a May 9, 2004, commentary by Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center on how far schools can and should go to accommodate the religious needs of Muslims.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Hamza Ismail Collins is the civil rights director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Connecticut chapter. He can discuss accommodation of Muslim students in Bridgeport, Conn., schools, which assigned a room for Muslim students during lunches at Ramadan. Contact 860-995-6628, civilrights@cair-ct.com.
• Jay McIntire is the school superintendent of the Wiscasset School Department in Maine, which has about 800 students. He approved the use of a “wellness room” in one of the district’s public schools as a place where students and staff could go to reduce stress. Parents and others raised concerns that meditation, prayer or another religious practice would be performed in the room and that this might constitute an unfair religious accommodation. Contact 207-882-6303, jmcintire@wiscasett.k12.me.us.
• J. Richard Ratcliffe is a lawyer in Providence, R.I. As a speaker for the Center for First Amendment Rights in Hartford, Conn., he frequently talks with high school, college and professional groups about the First Amendment. Contact 401-490-4651, rratcliffe@rbhelaw.com.
• Jay Wexler is a law professor at Boston University who specializes in First Amendment issues, including religious expression in public schools and the public square. In March 2007, he participated in a conference titled “Beyond the Culture Wars: A Leadership Conference on the Future of Religion in the Public Schools” at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Contact 617-353-2789.

IN THE EAST

• Mohamed Bugaighis is a retired mathematics professor and trustee of the Muslim Association of the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. The group has formally requested that the local school board recognize Eid al-Fitr as a holiday. Contact mbugaighis@verizon.net.
• Bruce Dierenfield is a professor of history at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. He is the author of The Battle Over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America (2007). Contact 716-888-2683, bruce.dierenfield@canisius.edu.
• Rochelle Eisenberg is an attorney who specializes in education law and has represented superintendents and school boards across the state of Maryland. She can discuss what it would take to close Maryland schools for Eid al-Fitr. Contact 410-938-8800, reisenberg@hpklegal.com.
• Amal Elrafei works for the Clifton, N.J., chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and can discuss how schools in the Passaic, N.J., area deal with Ramadan. Contact 973-246-7474, adc@adcnj.org.
• Robert Jackson is a New York City councilman and a Muslim. He has said that if New York City officials fail to recognize Eid al-Fitr as a school holiday, he will introduce legislation to do so. Contact 212-928-1322 (district office), 212-788-7007 (legislative office), jackson@council.nyc.ny.us.
• Khalid Qazi heads the Buffalo, N.Y., chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact kqazi@mpac.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Abdullahi An-Na’im is a professor of Islamic law at Emory University in Atlanta. He can address the accommodations of Muslims who want to play sports in public schools. Contact 404-712-8605, abduh46@law.emory.edu.
• Ahmed Bedier is director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Central Florida office in Tampa. He can discuss the Hillsborough County Public Schools’ decision to cancel all school holidays that fall on religious holidays (except Christmas) after a divisive debate over which religious holidays to include on the school calendar. (See a Feb. 28, 2007, story in the St. Petersburg Times.) Contact 813-514-1414 ext. 21, abedier@cairfl.org.
• Zubair Chao and Bilal Aijazi are president and vice president, respectively, of the Muslim Students Association at Duke University. The Duke MSA is seeking a larger place to meet and pray. Contact zubair.chao@duke.edu and bma4@duke.edu.
• Steven Gey is a law professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He is an expert on First Amendment freedom of religion cases and teaches a church-state seminar. Contact 850-644-5467, sgey@law.fsu.edu.
• Gary Hocevar is the principal of Terrace Community Middle School in Thonotosassa, Fla. Last year, the school became the first in its district to make Eid al-Fitr a school holiday. The school is in Hillsborough County, which has eliminated all religious holidays, except Christmas, after it added Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as holidays and then received requests from Muslim groups for Eid al-Fitr to be added. Contact 813-987-6555.

IN THE SOUTH

• Rashed Fakhruddin is director of education at the Islamic Center of Nashville, Tenn. In August 2007, he sent a joint letter on behalf of four local mosques to Nashville-area public school principals asking for religious exemptions to school dress codes. Contact 615-480-6146.
• David Hudson is a fellow at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn. He is an expert on First Amendment issues in public schools at the K-12 level. Contact dhudson@fac.org.
• Afdal Muchtar is president of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The group has an on-campus prayer room. Contact afdhalku2000@yahoo.com.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Dr. Wayel Azmeh is a cardiologist who heads the Dayton, Ohio, chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact wayel@mpac.org.
• Timothy Cannon is principal of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The school sets aside an area for Muslim students’ afternoon prayers during Ramadan. Contact 847-755-3759, tcannon@d211.org.
• Edward E. Curtis IV is an associate professor of religious studies and American studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. He is editor of the forthcoming Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States (2008). Contact 317-278-1683, ecurtis4@iupui.edu.
• Zakia Hyder is an author and a Muslim who lives in Mason, Ohio, where the school board recently considered the rights of Muslim students to a separate room for lunch periods during Ramadan. Last year, she wrote an opinion piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer calling for the school board to spend its time providing quality education and not religious accommodation issues. Contact hyder@zakiahyder.com.
• Karen Dabdoub is director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Ohio chapter and can address the Mason, Ohio, school issue. Contact 513-281-8200, karen@cair-ohio.com.
• Jennifer Miller is a member of the Mason, Ohio, Unified School District. In 2006, she spoke against setting aside a room for Muslim students to use during Ramadan lunch periods in Mason schools on the grounds that it is preferential treatment of one religion. Contact 513-398-2749, jgmiller57@msn.com.
• Zeshahn Humayun and Majed Afana are the president and vice president, respectively, of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Michigan in Dearborn, which installed footbaths for Muslim students. Contact president@msadearborn.org and VP@msadearborn.org.
• Frank Ravitch is a law professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing and a scholar of constitutional law and of law and religion. He is the author of School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters. He wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Chandler v. Siegelman, a school prayer case from Alabama, in support of those opposing school prayer practices. Contact 517-432-6973, fravitch@law.msu.edu.
• Charles Russo is the author of the textbook Reutter’s The Law of Public Education and an adjunct professor of law at Dayton University in Dayton, Ohio. He has said that religious accommodation for Muslims will be a growing issue as the U.S. population continues to become more diverse. Contact 937-229-3722.
• Michael Steinberg is legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. His group represented a Muslim girl in her quest to wear a swimsuit her family deemed acceptable to their religious beliefs to swim at a public pool. As a result, the local park and recreation commission unanimously passed what may be the nation’s first swimwear policy that accommodates people who cannot wear traditional swimsuits for religious reasons. Contact 313-578-6800.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Ron Griffen is the principal of L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, which began allowing prayer during lunch breaks after a Muslim student filed a 2005 lawsuit against a school policy banning prayer. Contact 469-593-7000, ron.griffen@risd.org.
• Rheem Kabbani is head of the Phoenix, Ariz., chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact rheem@mpac.org.
• James May is the principal of I.H. Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. In his eight years there he has considered many requests for religious accommodation from Muslim students, something he says frequently happens around Ramadan. Contact 281-634-2302, James.May@fortbend.k12.tx.us.
• Liyakat Takim is an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Denver. Last year, he participated in a panel presentation on “the religious other” in American public life as part of Colorado College’s symposium on “Religion and Public Life: Why Be Afraid?” Contact ltakim@du.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Caprice Hollins is the director of equity and race relations for the Seattle school district. The office has established a committee to examine the needs of Muslim students in public schools. Contact 206-252-0138, cdhollins1@seattleschools.org.
• Edgar Hopida is public relations director for the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Contact 858-278-4547, sandiego@cair.com.
• Zabie Mansoory is communications coordinator for the Los Angeles chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact zabie@mpac.org.
• Steven Smith is a law professor at the University of San Diego and can discuss the legal issues in the Carver Elementary School case, in which Muslim students were allowed time for prayer during the school day. Contact 619-260-7969, smiths@sandiego.edu.