A group of female Muslim students at Syracuse University is demanding the university pool provide special hours for female swimmers due to their religious beliefs.
The group of female students at the New York university said that it cannot swim in the presence of men due to Islamic religious beliefs that require women to be fully covered in the presence of men, according to the Daily Orange.
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“Usually I’d have to fix my scarf while I’m in the pool, but if you’re in an environment where it’s just girls, you don’t really care and you can swim, you’re more comfortable,” student Sajiah Naqib told the campus newspaper.
But the group of students said that a “girl’s only” time at the campus aquatic center was insufficient to meet their religious needs due to the high degree of visibility through the facility’s windows.
One solution posed by the group included curtains that could cover the windows while the women swam. And they don’t see their request only benefiting Muslim women.
“I’m sure it’s not only Muslims, I think there’ll be a lot of female students that would benefit from it because not everyone is comfortable with all genders swimming (together),” one student told the student newspaper.
A university spokesperson told the Daily Orange that the university is “open to connecting with Muslim students about the issue and provide better accommodations.”
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Syracuse University for comment.
