Reasonable Accommodation

I once defended a prospectus on Ash Wednesday, which entails a much less strict fast than the Ramadan one. I was successful, but about an hour in I really began to notice that my brain wasn't hitting on all cylinders due to the lack of food.

Thus, it strikes me as completely fair and appropriate for professors who wish to do so to offer Muslim students the chance to take exams once they've eaten. That seems like a very reasonable thing to do.

8 comments:

jaed said...

... do they offer a similar accommodation to, say, Orthodox students during Lent? Catholic students on Good Friday? Jewish students on Yom Kippur?

It's what I always have to ask, because this sort of accommodation sounds fine on the surface, but so often turns out to be something else, a way of signaling "tolerance" and "diversity".

E Hines said...

Well, the Dodgers accommodated Sandy Koufax' commitment to Yom Kippur. I don't know how widespread that is, though. Not many major college functions occur that early in the school year.

Eric Hines

E Hines said...

It also seems OK when it's individuals, including individual professors, who make this sort of decision. The problem occurs when institutions decide it's a good thing and insist on imposing a one-size-fits-all version of it (which is the only version they can do) on everyone, no matter how inappropriate that is.

Eric Hines

MikeD said...

One of my native Arabic instructors at the Defense Language Institute was a Jordanian Muslim. She was also one of the few that was ok with us eating and drinking during class time. During Ramadan she asked us to abstain from doing so because it did make her fast harder. And we (of course) were happy to comply, especially since she was the one who had given us permission to eat and drink during class in the first place. I see no harm in treating people with respect and compassion which supports their religious preferences. Unless and until it is turned into a club to beat others who hold preferences that are less popular. As jaed said, as long as the same courtesy is extended to students of other faiths and cultures, I think this is a fine thing. But let one professor refuse because a particular student is "priviledged" and thus doesn't deserve the came courtesy, and I say burn it all down (metaphorically). Equal treatment for all, or for none.

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E Hines said...

Equal treatment for all, or for none.

So, equal treatment in either case. Waddaya want--your cake and eat it, too?

Eric Hines

MikeD said...

Not me. I just want to get rid of all this "equal treatment for me and the groups I favor, everyone I don't like can go hang" nonsense we get from the Left. But you're correct, my phrasing was poor.

Consideration for all, or for none. Better?

E Hines said...

Your original phrasing was fine; I was being (unsuccessfully) ironic.

Eric Hines