A Washington Post writer talks to one of UD‘s colleagues about George Washington University’s recent decision to bar men from its swimming pool for one hour a week in order to accommodate Muslim women students.
… Ira Lupu [is] a law professor at GW who focuses on church-state issues. I asked him if Muslim women could argue religious discrimination if they couldn’t use the pool because of men, or if male students could argue they were losing out? He seemed to think the latter camp had a better argument due to Title IX’s ban on sexual discrimination in educational programs that get federal money.
“If I was in the [university’s] office of general counsel, I’d say make it the same for men as women,” said Lupu.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:37PM
Whatever course GW chose to take on this issue, the odds are pretty high that a few tens of thousands of dollars (at least) will be siphoned off into legal fees.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:45PM
I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous and offensive in my entire life. Slavoj Zizek was so right when he said: “What lurks at the horizon. . . is the nightmarish prospect of a society regulated by a perverse pact between religious fundamentalists and the politically correct preachers of tolerance and respect for the other’s beliefs: a society immobilised by the concern for not hurting the other, no matter how cruel and superstitious this other is.”
October 27th, 2010 at 7:00PM
If Muslims believe Muslim women shouldn’t have to share the pool, surely they should build their own?
October 27th, 2010 at 7:51PM
What about setting aside a couple of hours for men only and women only? Might this solve the problem?
October 27th, 2010 at 10:39PM
What happens when someone says their religion forbids men and women to sit together in *classes*?? Or, even better, when someone comes along with a religion requiring them to swim naked?…
October 27th, 2010 at 11:14PM
A few months ago, our campus pool started such a policy (2 extra hours a week of “for women only” time.) The experiment ended within a couple of weeks and I never heard anything formal about it. I assumed that this was tried at the request of muslim members of campus community but was never able to figure out where the idea came from or why it wasn’t done for more than a few weeks.
October 27th, 2010 at 11:15PM
Actually, I should correct myself, the policy was “women and children only.”
October 28th, 2010 at 9:21AM
@david foster: Actually, some people have even really dangerous ideas – like young Muslim lady doctors should not uncover their arms during scrubbing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1577426/Female-Muslim-medics-disobey-hygiene-rules.html
October 28th, 2010 at 2:12PM
@david foster: Actually, your idea regarding swimming naked for religious reasons is something which should be explored.
We have, a lot of religions which embrace fun, like the church of the subgenius (Bob’s name be praised), but some of you science fiction fans might know “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein.
Some people actually founded a “Church of all Worlds”, very much along the lines of the book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_All_Worlds .
Now if I recall correctly the original religion there was very much water centered and very much free spirited.
So I wonder why this religion is not that popular on Campuses. Show me a geek who would not like a church service where people prance around naked, read science fiction, and…
Unfortunately I am a confirmed atheist (and Mrs. econprof would not be amused) but older professors would have a perfect excuse for performing spiritual services with young Coeds.
and maybe, if it is the true religion, and adepts would be able to grok things – would it be bad if one had the ability to vanish unpleasant people with a hard look at them (So if some administrators or snowflakes annoy you – just look at them and they are transported into another realm..
So – who will establish the first nest?