Meditation room in community college

[Esenberg, Richard]

It seems to fit uneasily into the Lamb's Chapel trilogy and hard to reconcile with either Lemon neutrality or notions of nonendorsement.

Maybe it's an tougher case if the Islamic literature is not permitted in the room when Muslim students are not using it (or, perhaps, if other literature is also permitted), but the school hasn't simply made a facility available for religious uses, it has constructed the space to accommodate use by one particular religion. If you are willing to permit this, I don't know why you also wouldn't permit modification of a room to include an altar, baptismal font or even a crucifix.

Unless it outfits other rooms for other faiths, I would imagine that a court would find that the modification of the room and the enforcement of rules (the removal of shoes) that mark it as an Islamic space lack a secular purpose and advance Islam. I would expect a judge to conclude that a reasonable observer would conclude that the school has endorsed Islam.

The problem here is not what permitting Islamic worship but acting in a way that marks the space as one for Islamic worship.

I am not a fan of either Lemon or nonendorsement but that's how I'd guess this would sort out.

Rick Esenberg
>
> Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
>
> Marquette University Law School
>
> Sensenbrenner Hall
>
> 1103 W. Wisconsin Avenue
>
> Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201
>
> (o) 414-288-6908
>
> (m)414-213-3957
>
> richard.esenberg at marquette.edu
>


________________________________________
From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene [VOLOKH at law.ucla.edu]
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:14 AM
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Meditation room in community college

Any thoughts on the story?  My sense is that this would be permissible
if the room were open to all student groups (or at least all student
groups that are religious or antireligious), even if it turned out that
other groups had no inclination to use it.  But I'd love to hear what
others think.  Thanks,

Eugene

http://www.startribune.com/featuredColumns/12551256.html

...

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam's
five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting
that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men's and women's
prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca,
and literature urged women to cover their faces.

Sound like a mosque?

The place I'm describing is the "meditation room" at Normandale
Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington.

Until recently, the room was the school's only usable racquetball court.
College administrators converted the court into a meditation room when
construction forced closure of the previous meditation room.

A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated
sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls
and head-coverings. Literature titled "Hijaab [covering] and Modesty"
was prominently placed there, instructing women on proper Islamic
behavior.

They should cover their faces and stay at home, it said, and their
speech should not "be such that it is heard."

"Enter into Islaam completely and accept all the rulings of Islaam," the
tract read in part. "It should not be that you accept what entertains
your desires and leave what opposes your desires; this is from the
manners of the Jews."

"[T]he Jews and the Christians" are described as "the enemies of
Allaah's religion." The document adds: "Remember that you will never
succeed while you follow these people."

A poster on the room's door advertised a local lecture on "marriage from
an Islamic perspective," with "useful tips for marital harmony from the
Prophet's ... life." Other fliers invited students to join the
Normandale Islamic Forum, or participate in Ramadan celebrations.

One thing was missing from the meditation room: evidence of any faith
but Islam. No Bible, no crucifix, no Torah....

Despite the room's Islamic atmosphere, [Dean of Student Affairs Ralph]
Anderson says it "is open to everyone." ...

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