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Posted by: kwflatbed

In response to a request by female Muslim students, Harvard University has created women-only workout hours at one of its campus gyms. The decision has angered some students at the Ivy League university.

Since Jan. 28, the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center has been open only to women from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays.
The change was prompted by a request from the Harvard College Women's Center, which was approached by six female Muslim students, said Robert Mitchell, communications director of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
"It was done for religious purposes, but it's not closed to other women who may want to participate," he said.
Ola Aljawhary, a student and a member of the Harvard Islamic Society, said the women-only gym is needed.
"These hours are necessary because there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms, not because they don't want to work out, but because for them working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward or problematic in some way," she told Boston University's Daily Free Press.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Washington D.C., said modesty may prevent some Muslim women from exercising in a co-ed environment.
"If the women are dressed in a manner that makes it more comfortable to exercise, they may not feel it’s appropriate for them to be viewed by men in that particular attire," he said.
But the change has angered students like Nicholas Wells, a junior who called the change a "lose-lose" situation in an opinion article he wrote for the Harvard Crimson newspaper.
"It is an unreasonable policy that is unjust to men and useless to women," he wrote.
"Rather than a genuine attempt to provide comfortable workout hours for women and religious observers who might be uncomfortable working out around men, this policy beats around the bush by offering the least utilized and the most inconvenient hours and gym space," he said. "No one benefits from women’s only hours."
The Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center is one of three large recreational facilities on the Cambridge, Mass., campus, though most of the 12 residential houses also have workout facilities, Mitchell said. A large Harvard athletic center is also available for use on the Boston side of the St. Charles River.
Harvard has made many accommodations for students' religious needs, Mitchell said. Those include prayer areas for Hindu and Muslim students as well as the rescheduling of exams to accommodate religious holidays.
"This is just yet another of what we thought was a reasonable request for some special times because of religion, not because of gender," Mitchell said.
The women-only hours are being tested on a trial basis and will be evaluated at the end of the semester, he said.
Reports of the Harvard decision have sparked discussion in student publications across the country, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where an athletics department spokesman said such a measure would be "hard to pull off" in the campus' primary gym.

Click here to read the full Free Press report.

Click here to read Nicholas Wells' opinion piece.

Click here to read the Daily Pennsylvanian's report.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334390,00.html

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Posted by: MM1799

Welcome to America.
Change YOUR ways or get the fuck out.

Whatever happened to this?
We are seeing, everday, that assimilation in America means everyone assimilates to Islamic rules and practices.

Oh and I read Nicholas Wells' piece and it's very well done. It's nice to see, by the comments, that there are still college students who have a firm head on their shoulders.

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Posted by: Sniper

give her a fcking prayer rug while you are at it ..............

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Posted by: NewEngland2007

I thought wearing a burka negated the need to work out.

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Posted by: 94c

may their long skirts get caught in the treadmill.

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Posted by: NPD108

What about the other students paying DAMN good money to be able to use the facility? What if that is their only available time slot to work out between classes, studying, internships, etc. If I were a student there I'd be fuming.

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Posted by: KozmoKramer

Quote:

What about the other students paying DAMN good money to be able to use the facility?

They get screwed NPD, all in the name of Political Correctness...

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Posted by: Delta784

If our customs and culture are a problem, this place is always accepting applications;

http://www.iu.edu.sa/start.aspx?LinkID=11

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Posted by: Andy0921

You've got to be f'ing kidding me! This is the type of BULLSHIT that drives me completely irate and elevates my blood pressure significantly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KozmoKramer They get screwed NPD, all in the name of Political Correctness...

FUCK POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!!

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Posted by: TacEntry

Two Words: Home Gym

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Posted by: Hb13

If they are that uncomfortable working out with other people there then they should find somewhere else to do it or just don't do it at all.
I agree with NPD108 that the kids who only have that time frame to work out are getting screwed by the fact that someone with a different religious belief feels they need their own time to work out... fu*k that. Now I am in the same boat as Andy0921 i'm all pissed off.
It reminds me of the time I got a told not to say Merry Christmas on the phone at my dispatch center I still do it but it just makes me so mad that political correctness is ruining this country.
i will stop ranting now.

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Posted by: REILEYDOG

If they are such strict muslims, then technically, being women, they should not even be attending a university.

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Posted by: cmagryan

- 'Curves' is their answer! All women, all the time ...

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Posted by: jaimedc0

What a F...ing joke. Who thought of that?!!? Soon enough we are going to see their arobics work out video on YouTube.

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