Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam’s five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men’s and women’s prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces.
Sound like a mosque?
The place I’m describing is the “meditation room” at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington.
Until recently, the room was the school’s only usable racquetball court. College administrators converted the court into a meditation room when construction forced closure of the previous meditation room.
A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls and head-coverings. Literature titled “Hijaab [covering] and Modesty” was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic behavior.
They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their speech should not “be such that it is heard.”
“Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam,” the tract read in part. “It should not be that you accept what entertains your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the manners of the Jews.”
“[T]he Jews and the Christians” are described as “the enemies of Allaah’s religion.” The document adds: “Remember that you will never succeed while you follow these people.”
A poster on the room’s door advertised a local lecture on “marriage from an Islamic perspective,” with “useful tips for marital harmony from the Prophet’s ... life.” Other fliers invited students to join the Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.
One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah.
Normandale’s administration is facilitating the room’s Islamization. The college’s building crew erected the barrier separating men’s and women’s sections, according to Ralph Anderson, dean of student affairs. College officials also posted signs at the room’s entrance asking students to remove shoes—a Muslim custom before prayers. This was “basically a courtesy to Muslim students,” Anderson said.
Despite the room’s Islamic atmosphere, Anderson says it “is open to everyone.”
Why is the meditation room segregated by sex? “Muslim students prefer that areas be divided into male and female,” he said. “Other students don’t care.”
Doesn’t sex-segregation present a constitutional problem in a public educational institution? “I don’t want to comment on that,” he said.
And the literature regarding Jews and Christians? “I would probably take it out if I knew it was in there,” said Anderson.
Normandale’s zealous effort to accommodate Muslim students is not new. Chad Lunaas, a former student who works at the college part time, cites examples.
Last year on Fridays, he says, he often entered the bathroom to find that “every sink and toilet stall had someone washing his feet.” Other students couldn’t use the bathroom at these times, and those who tried felt awkward.
Lunaas finally expressed his concerns to a Muslim student who “seemed to be in charge.”
“His attitude was, ‘We don’t have to listen to you, we can do whatever we want,’ “ he said.
Confrontations also erupted in the sex-segregated meditation room, according to Lunaas. “Muslim students just took it over. They made people who were not of the Muslim religion feel very uncomfortable, especially if they were female.”
One female student tried to use the room when Muslim students were in it, said Lunaas. “She believed she should be treated equally. They were telling her to leave, to take off her shoes, to go to the other side of the divider.”
Anderson says he met several times with concerned students. But “the whole thing was just basically swept aside,” according to Lunaas.
Anderson said that in the incident involving the young woman, “both sides were probably out of line.”
Howard Odor, who advises the college’s Somali Student Association, said he has not been aware of “any issues” since the meditation room has been in the racquetball court. “I can guarantee that college policy is that anyone who wants to go in there and pray or meditate can do so.”
But many at the college see a bigger issue.
“For all practical purposes, this meditation room is essentially a Muslim prayer room,” said Chuck Chalberg of Normandale’s history faculty. “Something this unprecedented goes beyond religious toleration.”
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