Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture (OP)
Salaam
Leicester student society accused of seating segregation, in wake of UCL row that led to banning of an Islamic group
The University of Leicester has launched an investigation into gender segregation at a public lecture held by its student Islamic society.
The talk, entitled Does God Exist?, featured a guest speaker Hamza Tzortzis as part of an Islamic Awareness week. Seating at the event was segregated, with different entrances into the lecture theatre for men and women. It follows news that a London university, UCL, has banned an Islamic organisation from campus after concluding that it attempted to impose segregation at a debate which also featured Tzortzis. In Leicester, more than 100 students attended the segregated event, which took place last month. A photograph passed to the Guardian shows signs put up in a university building, directing the segregation.
A message on the group's website says: "In all our events, [the society] operate a strict policy of segregated seating between males and females." The statement was removed after the Guardian contacted the society.
A spokesman for Leicester said: "The University of Leicester does not permit enforced segregation at public events. The university will investigate whether entrances to the hall for this event were segregated by the society and will ensure there is no recurrence of this.
"The University will not interfere with people's right to choose where to sit. If some people choose to sit in a segregated manner because of their religious convictions then they are free to do so. By the same token, if people attending do not wish to sit in a segregated manner, they are free to do so."
He added: "To our knowledge, no-one was forced to sit in any particular seat. If there is evidence of enforced segregation, that would be a matter the university and students' union would investigate." But a Leicester student told the Guardian he believed segregation was common practice at the society's events to avoid offending those with strong religious beliefs.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "Gender segregated seating contravenes the equal opportunities and anti-discrimination policies of universities and student unions. Students and staff should not be subjected to sexist segregationist policies.
"Universities are supposed to be places of enlightenment, tolerance, liberalism and human rights. It is shocking the way some student Islamist societies are being allowed to force women to sit apart from men, sometimes with the connivance of the university authorities, who take a hands-off approach. Some universities are doing very little to ensure that the campus is a safe and equal place for all students."
Dan Flatt, an officer for Leicester Students' Union, said: "The Students' Union does not believe in enforced segregation. We trust in our societies' ability to conduct their events in accordance with the principles of the union."
But Rupert Sutton, from the campus watchdog Student Rights, has claimed there is "consistent use of segregation by student Islamic societies across the country".
He wrote: "While this may be portrayed as voluntary by those who enforce it, the pressure put on female students to conform and obey these rules that encourage subjugation should not be underestimated."
The issue made the headlines recently after Prof Lawrence Krauss, an eminent atheist, walked out of a segregated event at University College London (UCL). He returned after organisers said segregation would be abandoned. Richard Dawkins later described the attempted segregation as a "sexual apartheid".
The University of East London also recently blocked an Islamist meeting which was also set to have segregated seating.
Dawkins wrote on his website: "Isn't it really about time we decent, nice, liberal people stopped being so pusillanimously terrified of being thought 'Islamophobic' and stood up for decent, nice, liberal values?"
Re: Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture
No I don't! I am not the one making deranged similes - in fact you're I was merely alerting her so she wouldn't be discouraged or confused as to where you draw the line or find tangible similarities!
Best,
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Re: Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture
fact is no such demands were made from Non-Muslims. This is purely for the comfort and decorousness of Muslim attendees.
And they should be able to argue on behalf of themselves whether or not such an arrangement bothers them. Nothing infuriates me personally more than a Non-Muslim speaking on my behalf!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Re: Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture
it was probably me adding it up wrong again.
i mean the topic has had some varied posts,
the gist of what i got was that it went from sexual discrimination to not wanting to sit together.
in both cases,
it was in an environment where there was a supervising faculty who ultimately (as has been proved) takes into consideration the complaints made to them.
so what danger was there in not sitting together?
other than lust.
any other problem and knowledgeable muslim men and women would have been able to provide answers.
this post has been utter rubbish. but nothing is as simple as just spending time in the company of people to find out who they are.
i mean sometimes i feel as though islam is not all literal or worldly.
Re: Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture
format_quote Originally Posted by M.I.A.
the gist of what i got was that it went from sexual discrimination to not wanting to sit together.
Neither is accurate!
It is a lecture not a brothel. People should be there to concentrate on the material not the opposite gender. especially when there's ample time to socialize outside of lectured setting in a society that is already allowing as is. Those who want to sit together aren't kept apart, I doubt very much that Muslims want to socialize inside a lecture hall. Probably deranged perverts the likes of Doggins who wishes to impose his lecherous needs upon people who otherwise just wish to attend for learning purposes!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Re: Inquiry launched after Islamic group holds segregated lecture
Seema Jilani put it best at white house correspondent dinner and I feel it applies.
''Let's stop this facade that we are a beacon of tolerance. I don't need you to "tolerate" me. I don't want you to merely put up with my presence. All I ask, all I have ever asked, is to be treated as a human being, that bigoted jingoism is not injected into every minute facet my life, that there remains at least the illusion of decency.''
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
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