http://www.thestar.com/living/Religion/article/458352

There is nowhere for Muslims to pray at McGill; the Montreal university shut the prayer room three years ago, arguing religious space has no place on a secular campus.

But at the University of Toronto, Muslims and anyone else who wants to pray between class can choose from among more than eight prayer rooms, including four at the airy new Multi-Faith Centre, where religion fuels discussions on everything from politics and peace to love potions. A potluck this spring called Faith, Food and Fornication let students sample aphrodisiacs from various traditions, “but we drew the line at Viagra,” quipped campus diversity officer Nouman Ashraf.

From no prayer room to a full assortment, from halal sausage stands to women-only swim times, Canadian universities are grappling in often starkly different ways with the growing religious diversity of their students.

“We’re not the spirituality police,” said Ashraf, “and we’re not taking a stand in favour of one religion by providing space for worship. But we recognize religion is part of many students’ identity so we don’t make them check that at the campus gate.”

In a country with soaring religious diversity, where the last national head count by religion in 2001 listed 32 major denominations, twice the number from 30 years earlier, there is new thinking on everything from the Lord’s Prayer in the Legislature to Christmas trees in a courthouse. Campuses are no exception.

In a conference call yesterday with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, York University officials agreed to a mediation meeting Sept. 16 with a professor who has complained the university’s 30-year-old practice of cancelling all classes for Jewish High Holidays discriminates against students of other faiths.

Win or lose, the high-profile case launched in 2006 by history professor David Noble already has prompted others to review such concessions to Jewish students:

• Starting this fall, the University of Windsor’s law school will no longer cancel classes for the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, ending a tradition started in the early 1970s. Instead, the university has launched an anonymous, online form by which students of any faith can request time off for religious reasons, the recommendation of a task force created this spring on religious accommodation. Students who are excused from class for religious reasons can listen to an audiotaped version of the lecture they miss. Class registration began this week and students have until the end of July to request a religious absence.

“The idea is not to create a completely secular environment,” said associate dean Mary Gold, “but we realize we have students of different religions and we want to accommodate them all.”

• The University of Toronto‘s law school is reviewing its tradition of cancelling classes on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur “because we are cognizant of the decision at Windsor, the case at York and the changing nature of the world we live in,” said assistant dean Bonnie Goldberg. “We are citizens of the world and our students come from an increasing multitude of backgrounds.” Besides, students already miss several days each fall for job recruitment, she added. Any changes would not be made before September 2009.

• York University‘s own senate committee on curriculum and academic standards has recommended scrapping the Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah cancellations – not on ethical grounds, but to make room in the calendar for a new fall “reading week,” said vice-president Sheila Embleton, adding York would not end its practice of cancelling classes on religious holidays without a full debate by the senate when it reviews the committee proposal in September.

While Noble says he believes the committee proposed the change because of his fight, Embleton says it is a move sparked by the growing popularity of fall “reading weeks” after Thanksgiving – the U of T will adopt one in 2009 – to help new students adjust to university.

Noble argues that cancelling classes on Jewish holidays is not fair to non-Jewish students, but Embleton said to restore those classes might be seen as unfair for York’s 3,000 to 5,000 Jewish students.

“Jewish students have always appreciated that York did not put them in the position of having to choose between school and their faith,” said Tilly Shames, a former York student who is associate director of Hillel of Greater Toronto, which serves Jewish students. She recalls appreciating not having to ask to be excused from class at York during the High Holidays.

“Some people say it’s a question of fairness, but what’s not fair is if Jewish students are forced to choose between school and their religion,” she said, although Jewish students would be free to apply to be excused from class for religious observance, as are all students.

Ashraf says the Christian majority often forgets the privileged position it enjoys, with holidays such as Good Friday and Christmas Day enshrined by law as public holidays.

“So to give students a day off when they request it for religious observance isn’t really giving them a leg up over anyone else,” said Ashraf. “It’s levelling the playing field.

“We have to change our lens from the lens of (Christian) privilege to a pluralistic lens. We’re not in the business of `koshering’ or `halalling’ the campus, but we’re just making sure everyone is equally welcome.”

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