Virginia Tech has a contract with King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for faculty development. As part of the contract it is bringing 60 faculty members over for a six week training session this summer. There is, however, an interesting twist: it is segregating the men and women professors into “identical but gender-specific courses….” A Virginia Tech official explained: “This is the way they teach their courses over there, and this is the way they wish their courses to be taught over here.”
Some readers may recall that not so long ago the Commonwealth of Virginia got in a bit of trouble for segregating its male and female military cadets into separate programs, one at the Virginia Military Institute (for males only) and one subsidized at the private Mary Baldwin College (for females). The Supreme Court finally integrated VMI; I wonder what, if anything, will happen regarding gender segregation at Virginia Tech.
Meanwhile, across the Commonwealth, in Richmond, Virginia Commonwealty University has insisted that Amina Wadud, an associate professor of Islamic studies,
stay away from the campus for the rest of the semester. Her very presence, they believed, was a danger to students.
Her offense? She led a prayer service that included men.
In the days following the prayer, the head of the leading Sunni Muslim institution in Egypt issued a condemnation. In Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik accused Ms. Wadud of “trying to corrupt the community.” A female Muslim scholar in Egypt said the professor was guilty of apostasy, which is punishable by death under Islamic law. Most people who spoke against the act argued that having a woman lead prayer made it impossible for men to keep their minds on God. They also cited centuries of Islamic tradition forbidding women from leading men in prayer (although women have traditionally been allowed to lead other women).
Newspapers in the Middle East called her “bad,” “deviant,” “crazy,” and “dangerous.” That was a cause for concern, of course, but it was the anonymous comments on certain Web sites that were the most troubling. “HEAVEN DOESN’T WANT YOU & HELL IS CALLING YOU,” one person wrote. A Web site called the Jawa Report started an “Amina Wadud Death Watch.” One post began ominously, “What do you bet Amina Wadud gets murdered?” An anonymous writer called on Osama bin Laden to issue a fatwa against her.
That, of course, attracted the attention of administrators at Virginia Commonwealth University, where Ms. Wadud has been a professor since 1992. After discussions with the FBI and telephone calls from upset parents, the university decided that Ms. Wadud’s presence on the campus was putting students and other faculty members at risk.
Makes the race issue seem simple by comparison.
I’m amazed, simply amazed, that we’re letting the ignorance and backwardness of people in the middle east affect our academic freedom and employment policies.
This school should simply be ashamed.
I suspect Ms. Wadud is on paid leave, otherwise she would have a slam dunk First Amendment case against VA and the FBI. There is a valid point that authorities should take the threat seriously, but to stop routine business seems to violate the proclamation that the President made following 9/11. We must continue our daily activites in spite of this.
As to the contract with Saudi Arabia, it would be interesting to legally challenge it. If our professors were going to a training session there, in Saudi Arabia, I could see respecting the segregation and their sovereignty. But when they come here, I can’t. If UVATech is hosting something, I think it is bound by the US Constitution and that it can’t contract that away.
As the UVAT official said:
“This is the way they teach their courses over there, and this is the way they wish their courses to be taught over here.”
If that’s the way they want it, then they are free to buy (or rent) property and finance it all themselves.
Multiculturalism meets hostile environment
Virginia…