Citadel denies Muslim student's hijab request

The Citadel, a military college in SC, has rejected ^[1] a female Muslim student's request that she be allowed to wear a hijab while engaging in school activities.

Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said ^[2] The Citadel erred in barring the student's religious expression.

"Uniformity is the cornerstone of this four-year leader development model", he said in the statement.

Gen. John Rosa said in a statement ^[3] Tuesday that after consideration, the school ^[4] will not be able to accommodate the student's request to wear the head covering used commonly by some Muslim women.

Family spokesman of the prospective female student Ibrahim Hooper, who is also with CAIR, said ^[5] the student was disappointed and cried when she received the news that she would not be able to wear the hijab, reports the Associated Press ^[6]. In her opinion, "including the headscarf ^[7] in The Citadel uniform would be equal to including the side curls, or payot, worn by some men and boys in Orthodox Judaism", she told ^[8] the Washington Post ^[9].

Pinelli was reportedly punished ^[10] for publicly mentioning the situation, the South Carolina Post ^[11] and Courier says, though the school declined to comment, citing privacy law.

"They were obviously heartbroken", Hooper said, speaking for the family.

The public military college has Muslim cadets, but the request to wear a hijab was unique.

As long as the clothing and regalia do not interfere with "military readiness or unit cohesion", soldiers may apply for a dress code ^[12] waiver, which could allow them to grow beards and wear religious clothing and regalia, including hijabs. "Thus, denying an accommodation here would effectively preclude many Muslim women from enrolling in The Citadel".

Mr. Rosa said he still hopes the student, who was admitted as a part of The Citadel class of 2020, will decide to attend the college.

"Accommodations for prayer and dietary needs are common at the college", Rosa said.

"It's not the cross that they care about", he said.

Following Singh's suit, three other Sikhs were also granted religious accommodations. The statement noted ^[13] that the Charleston school had no black students until 1966 and no women until 1995.

The Citadel's religious accommodation policy states that the college "places a high value on the rights of cadets to observe tenets of their respective religious faiths". Captain (Retired) Geno Paluso's decision was made with my support and the support of The Citadel Board of Visitors.

The diversity of religions and cultural backgrounds represented in the Corps enriches the overall cadet experience and better prepares graduates to become principled leaders in all walks of life, underpinned by The Citadel's core values of honor, duty and respect.