Why Higher Education Must Pay Attention to Ramadan

Across the country, thousands of college campuses are ill prepared for a fate that awaits them in just a few years.  It hasn’t been that long ago (2010 in fact) that most campuses experienced a portion of Ramadan within the framework of their school calendar.  At this point, it was within the beginnings of the semester, when the busyness of new students and transitions were overshadowing all the other concerns of students, and the on-going discussion of Rash Shoshana and Yom Kippur holidays within the Jewish tradition likely kept the attention of administrators.  But soon, in just a few short years, every campus in the country will once again be experiencing the effects of Ramadan on their campuses.  And with a population of Muslim students yet unseen in universities.

Currently, Ramadan begins at the beginning of June.  As a matter of fact, we just passed the beginning of it just over a week ago.  For most of the West Coast schools and the very few east coast schools on the quarter system, administrators are well aware.  But they are also at times quite willing to overlook needs, leaving students to figure out for themselves how to handle their dietary restrictions underwhelming support from the university.

The reason this matters is because it overwhelmingly goes to the core values of higher education and yet so often is dismissed as not important.  Ramadan is a sacred time in the Muslim calendar, when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, forgoing even water.  And right now they are experiencing the most difficult time of the year possible: the summer months.  This is not to diminish when Ramadan falls during the shorter daylight months of January and February, but the differences between 9 hours and 16 hours of sunlight is without a doubt something one must contemplate when giving up even water. 

This fast is one of the “five Pillars of Islam” and is ritual that is practiced by millions of Muslims across the United States and over a billion across the world.  And that means that there are hundreds of thousands of students across the United States who are fasting while they study and learn.  And while we cannot stop the educational experience from takes place, we can find better ways to accommodate them.

The most important accommodation that can be offered by higher education during this time is the ability for these students to break their fast through an Iftar together.  Does the University need host an event every night for these students?  No, but they do need to keep the dining centers open late and open them early and offer them Halal options.  But this appears to be something that is an afterthought at most schools.

In a simple straw poll, more than 4 of 5 public universities surveyed across the country offered little more than a packed lunch for these students that could be called ahead and arranged with the dining hall staff.  Thus, the ability to break the fast, to eat early even, required advanced planning but was never a hot meal that was actually offered at a time in which Muslims could eat. And this takes place for 30 days.    

If Universities are serious about preparing the well-rounded student, about global citizenship, they should work with these Muslim students, and especially the MSA (the Muslim Student Associations) and find ways to help them practice this sacred tradition.  Soon, every college campus, not just the few quarter system schools, will experience the need for dramatic changes to accommodate these students.  Should we ignore their needs, dismissing them with packaged lunches and less than ideal options, we will have clearly defined their needs as less important than others, which will diminish the role of higher education. 

Information on this blog was obtained through http://www.islamicfoundation.ca/ramadan.aspx.