Harvard Gym Accommodates Muslim Women

March 5, 2008

Author: Elise Amendola and Denise Lavoie

Source: USA Today

Wire Service: AP

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-03-04-muslim-gym_N.htm

Harvard University has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week, a move to accomodate Muslim women who, for religious and cultural reasons, cannot exercise comfortably in their presence.

The policy is already unpopular with many on campus, however, including some women who consider it sexist.

"I think that it's incorrect in a college setting to institute a policy in which half of the campus gets wronged or denied a resource that's supposed to be for everyone," said student Lucy Caldwell, who also wrote a column in The Harvard Crimson newspaper critical of the new hours.