A Muslim student will not be allowed to wear a hijab with her uniform at the Citadel[1] military college in SC should she decide to enroll this fall, the school's[2] president said[3] on Tuesday.
In a statement[4] Tuesday, Citadel President John Rosa says[5], "Uniformity is the cornerstone of this four-year leader development model".
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which says it is the largest Muslim-American advocacy group, said that the student will not attend the school unless an exemption is made.
She told[6] the commandant that it wasn't fair that she had to choose between going to the school and her faith, Hooper said.
"That's the same argument they use when not allowing women or African-Americans" into The Citadel, Hooper said. He also said the family is considering legal options.
Although the Citadel will not allow cadets to wear a hijab, the military college is generally sensitive to their students' religious beliefs.
The female student requested the religious accommodation to wear a hijab with the standard cadet uniform in April.
" "The military departments will accommodate individual expressions of sincerely held beliefs (conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs) of service members" unless it might affect military readiness or unit cohesion, the updated policy on religious accommodation said."
The cover of The Citadel uniform guidelines is seen here.
"Accommodations for prayer and dietary needs are common at the college", he said.
"We do everything we can to support our cadets", Ashworth said.
The West Point Military Academy only allows the wearing of religious items that are not visible or apparent when in duty uniform - "provided they do not interfere with the performance of the soldier's military duties, or interfere with the proper wearing of any authorized article of the uniform", said a spokeswoman.
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".
Hooper said there is no reason to stick with this tradition since the American military itself has changed its views and offers a variety of religious accommodations on uniforms.
And this week, the school made its decision to maintain its complete uniformity, and ban the headscarf[7] should the student enroll.
One cadet from the school wrote in a Facebook post[8] that he applauds The Citadel's decision.
The student, who does not want to be named, was accepted into the Citadel and was planning on attending as part of the graduating class of 2020.
The cadet, who is reportedly an intern for the Donald Trump presidential campaign, concluded his post with, "For Christ's sake, Make America Great Again".
References
- ^ the Citadel (www.citadel.edu)
- ^ the school's (www.youtube.com)
- ^ said (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ statement (www.cair.com)
- ^ President John Rosa says (www.citadel.edu)
- ^ told (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ headscarf (arabsinamerica.unc.edu)
- ^ Facebook post (www.facebook.com)
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