Walking Dead

Richard Kerbaj and Milanda Rout | February 25, 2008

MUSLIM university students want lectures to be rescheduled to fit in with prayer timetables and separate male and female eating and recreational areas established on Australian campuses.

International Muslim students, predominantly from Saudi Arabia, have asked universities in Melbourne to change class times so they can attend congregational prayers. They also want a female-only area for Muslim students to eat and relax.
But at least one institution has rejected their demands, arguing that the university is secular and it does not want to set a precedent for requests granted in the name of religious beliefs.

La Trobe University International chief officer John Molony said several students had approached the Bundoora institution about rearranging class times to fit in with daily prayers.

Mr Molony said the university was attempting to "meet the needs" of an increasing number of Muslim international students, including doubling the size of the prayer room on campus.

La Trobe University International College director Martin Van Run said that although it was involved in discussions with the Muslim students who had made the requests, the university was not planning to change any timetables.
"That would seriously inconvenience other people at the college and it is not institutionally viable," he told The Australian. "We are a secular institution ... and we need to have a structured timetable."
Mr Van Run said that Saudi students were fully aware that the university was secular before coming to study there. "They know well in advance the class times," he said.

A spokesman for RMIT University would neither confirm nor deny reports that Muslim students had requested timetable changes.
One university source told The Australian that the requests by Muslim international students for timetable changes included a petition.
"Some of the students would prefer that lecture times were organised so it would be easy for them to attend prayers," he said. "But it wouldn't be a good precedent to set."
Islamic leaders yesterday backed the push by Muslim students to have their lectures arranged to accommodate prayer sessions, but said such a move would be essential only for congregational Friday prayers.
Female Muslim leader Aziza Abdel-Halim said yesterday it was a religious duty for those who followed Islam to preach with their fellow believers on Fridays.

But the former senior member of John Howard's Muslim reference board said there was nothing in Islam that indicated men and women be segregated when it came to educational activities.
"There's nothing in Islam that says there should be complete segregation, especially in educational institutions," said Sister Abdel-Halim. She said afternoon prayers for Muslims - Zhohor, at 1.10pm, and Asr, at 4.50pm - could be performed until 10 minutes before the following daily prayer, so it was more appropriate to alter prayer times than lecture schedules.
"It's reasonable to ask for the lectures to be shifted around on Friday," Sister Abdel-Halim said. "But if it's going to cause havoc with the timetable, I don't think it's really feasible to ask forevery single prayer to be catered for."

Muslims want unis to fit prayer time | The Australian

Another attempt on secularism.

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gunnut

I really wish these people would do this at Berkeley or San Francisco.

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"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

glyn

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Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

Parihaka

Yep, good luck with that one in OZ

captain

Who, the uni management or the Muslim students?

Cheers.

gunnut

Definitely the students. The university management is already in place.

Skull6

"But at least one institution has rejected their demands, arguing that the university is secular and it does not want to set a precedent for requests granted in the name of religious beliefs."

I believe religion should be something "personal." As such, I believe those whose university class schedules conflict with their personal beliefs should be willing to make personal sacrifices.

Seems to me to be a possible entrepreneurial endeavor for someone. Creating a university catering to a specialized set of students--those Muslims who wish to practice their religion at a higher priority than their schooling, in this case. I'm sure that there are such in predominately Muslims countries already. Ah, but this set of students want it in a foreign country that is not predominately Muslim.

I do "believe" that the word "priorities' is the apropos term here.

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If you know the enemy and yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. - Sun Tzu

captain

The story is not new but is just a bit more in an ongoing process that has been going on for a number of years, mainly in the eastern states Uni's.

It is a process of gradualism where a wish list of changes are constantly on hand to reshape the university enviroment to suit a few, in this case Muslims and in particular the more dogmatic middle eastern variety.

Changes have included the provision of seperate prayer rooms, the provision of exclusive, very specialised washing facilities and changes to food regimes within the campus cafeterias.

As most of the overseas students are full fee paying students, the universities have become reliant on that money and therefore it is likely that the "requests" of the Muslim students will be quietly met.

Cheers.

T_igger_cs_30

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FEAR NAUGHT

I don't work here ...I am an analyst!

Mobbme

Why? My god, YOU ANIMALS! Trying to take away My eye candy? How DARE you!

captain

captbag10402251351iraq_arbaeen_bag104.jpg
DARTH VADERS

Eye candy You got ISSUES man, serious ones!!!

Cheers

wkllaw

These students are guests in a foreign country. Certainly people should be polite to their guests and treat them kindly, but guests should respect the rules of the place and not try to change them.

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Those who can't change become extinct.

FullTank

As per koran, if your doing something useful like fighting a war or playing cricket, prayer timings can be rescheduled/postponed.

Mobbme

Their demands are not just for muslims!!! They'd want EVERY woman to separate from the men

By the way, would you say I have issues after you've seen Bin Laden's niece?

Mobbme