Barbara Kay: Accommodation of a different order

Do dedicated prayer spaces, provided by universities, fall under the rubric of “reasonable accommodation”?

The University of Regina has installed two special washing stations for the religiously observant amongst the 800 Muslim students there, who are required to wash both hands and feet before praying five times a day. Ergonomically speaking, the new bidet-like apparatuses are an enormous improvement over the awkwardness of washing one’s feet in ordinary hand basins, which was the only alternative before.

Want to see Pauline Marois’ head explode? Just tell her about this: In Saskatchewan, “reasonable accommodation” has gotten so far out of hand that the University of Regina is installing special washing stations to make it easier for Muslim students to clean up for prayers.

“Boom!”

There goes Marois.

“Ka-blowie!”

That must have been Bernard Drainville, the Orwellian-titled Minister for Democratic Institutions and Active Citizenship, who is leading the fight to establish lesser rights for some citizens.

This seems to me to be a “reasonable accommodation” for students who benefit greatly from the convenience, since the designated sinks involve a fixed cost, not significant in the scheme of things, requiring little to no maintenance and more important, having no effect on anyone else other than the positive one of sparing other students the off-putting sight of feet in sinks meant for hand-washing.

Do dedicated prayer spaces, provided by universities, fall under the same rubric of “reasonable accommodation”? That is the question raised in a Montreal Gazette story on the challenges religious students face at Montreal universities, both Anglophone and francophone. At McGill, Catholics can pray at the Newman Centre and the Birks Chapel, both on campus. Jewish students can pray at Hillel House, which serves a variety of needs, like kosher Sabbath meals and holiday celebrations for out of town students, as well as lectures and social events, and is near the campus.

But since 2007, Muslims have only had a cramped dedicated space in the premises of the Muslim Students Association. Some students, understandably self-conscious, find themselves snatching prayer time in libraries or staircases.

Is it a secular university’s obligation to allocate what would necessarily be significant square footage for prayer, if there is no nearby mosque, as is the case at the Université de Montréal, where Muslims are attempting to convince the administration to allocate dedicated space at the university’s expense?

One compromise solution is a multi-faith space that welcomes all comers, and can be booked by any group for specific times. That is the view of sociologist Gérard Bouchard, who co-chaired with Charles Taylor the 2007 Quebec government inquiry into reasonable accommodation of faith in public life. He says, “I believe that the granting of a room reserved only for the prayers of a particular denomination goes against the principle of secularism for schools.”

More than 30 Canadian schools have in fact opened multi-faith chaplaincies or prayer rooms. This is a good solution in principle, although in reality tensions can arise. In 2006, Ryerson University’s student newspaper, The Eyeopener, accused the Muslim Students Association of “monopoliz[ing] use of the multifaith room, putting the true meaning of the room’s name in jeopardy” when the Catholic Student Association, seeking to book the room for a mass, was told that the room was “permanently booked” by Muslim students.

In truth, the demand for prayer space is a disproportionately Muslim issue. The needs of the relatively few religiously observant Christian and Jewish Canadian who require daily prayer space – and even those who pray don’t need it five times a day – can be easily accommodated in already present chapels or Hillel House.

A few special washing stations cost little and won’t cause tension

One would think, from the highly focused beam of attention regarding this issue on campuses, that Muslim students’ obligation to pray five times a day will end when they graduate from university. But it won’t. What will they do when they graduate? Who will be responsible for their prayer space then? Will law firms and businesses, dental clinics and fashion boutiques be providing their Muslim employees with dedicated prayer space? Unlikely.

Ideally every faith should find its own solution to prayer obligations. Most universities already have Christian chapels. For other religions, Hillel House is a good model. The Jewish community has never asked any secular institution to provide resources for spiritual expression, but on the contrary considers accommodation of Jewish observance for students its own responsibility. So the community funds Hillel House.

A few special washing stations cost little and won’t cause tension, so sure, why not. But dedicated, permanent prayer space is an accommodation of a different order. It seems to me the most obvious solution is for the Muslim community to step up to the plate and take care of its own, either by renting or buying property near campus and assuming a shepherdly role in the spiritual nourishment of their own youthful flock.