This timely New York Sun article on the University of Michigan's squandering of public moneys (nominally raised from tuitions)to meet the special pleading needs of a small segment of its student body shows the extent to which we are pandering to a homophobic, militaristic, violent group of people.
First, one must doubt whether footbaths are used in the arid lands from which Islam sprang. How often did Muhamed get a footbath? I want to know. Equally to the point, why is one religious group being accomodated to the exclusion of others. Do Jews have arks, complete with Torahs, installed in university buildings. What about a rosary for Catholics?
Are we turning our secular, public universities, long dedicated to academic and personal freedoms, into feudal religious enclaves? Should we subcontract their administration to the Taliban?
I wonder how the Gay Pride Chapter would react.
July 31, 2007 Edition > Section: National > Printer-Friendly Version
U. of Michigan Will Provide Muslim Footbaths
BY P.J. HUFFSTUTTER - Los Angeles Times
July 31, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/...
When Majed Afana needs to pray while attending classes at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, the 19-year-old Muslim usually will duck into the campus library's bathroom, strip off his shoes, and awkwardly strain to wash his feet in the sink.
Water often pools at his feet, he says, making it slippery to balance on one foot. Some of the sinks have started to pull away from the wall, in part from years of use by others like him — who, according to their faith, must clean their feet prior to praying five times a day. So when the school recently approved installing two footbaths in a pair of new unisex bathrooms, to accommodate the needs of both male and female Muslim students, the local Islamic community started planning ways to raise the estimated $25,000 cost.
But the university told them not to bother — it would pay for the footbaths.
"I think it's great," said Mr. Afana, a pre-med student at this commuter school, where about a reported 11% of the 8,700 students are Muslim. "What we've been doing all these years has been dangerous and can be a safety hazard."
The university says it's tapping student infrastructure fees for the unisex bathrooms, which will also have diaper-changing stations and facilities for mothers to nurse infants, because this is an issue of the school trying to make its bathrooms safer and improve its plumbing — not endorsing religion or promoting Islam.
And while the fees are part of the school's general fund, the money is paid by students, not taxpayers, and is often used for campus maintenance and general construction.
**snip**