Islamic Society of UNSW - ISOC UNSW

The following is a letter that was sent by the Islamic Society to Richard Henry on 31 May 2009 signed by the President and Secretary and accompanied by a petition of 420 staff and students.

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Dear Richard Henry,  

Mr Mahmoud Jaame`, the Muslim Chaplain has forwarded a letter to us sent by the Student Services regarding the situation regarding the Friday prayers.  

We find it most distressing to discover that the ability of Muslim students and staff on campus to participate in the Friday prayers will be curtailed because the university is unable to provide appropriate alternative facilities to accommodate their needs.  

This is almost unprecedented both within UNSW and at other universities. The University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney are both able to continually provide facilities to accommodate the Muslim Friday Prayers which is seen by many as an essential element of practicing one’s faith on campus.  

The University of Sydney has been solicitous enough to schedule their exams such that the Old Teacher's College hall can be used for both the Friday Prayers as well as for examination purposes.  

We believe that it is not, to any significant degree, onerous upon UNSW to make such reasonable accommodations for Muslims students and staff on campus.  
 

Problems with Attendance Quotas  

We find it unfortunate that the University has assumed that the problem of balancing the need to accommodate examinations and Friday prayers can be mitigated by proscribing the few Muslims who are not students or staff from attending the Friday prayers. This, realistically speaking, will not limit the number of worshippers to 120 students. We also would like to point out that there are many more Muslim students who already avoid the Friday prayers because the facilities the university has provided us in the past have been inadequate to provide for their needs. These include female Muslims and Muslims with disabilities.  

On Friday 29 May 2009, the Islamic Society on Campus and the Chaplaincy fielded a petition for the Friday prayer worshippers to sign. Only students and staff were invited to sign the petition.  

A copy of the signatures and the petition have been attached for your reference. As you can see, there are over 400 students and staff who attended the prayer services. It was due to this reason that the former Chief Operating Officer and his deputy organized for the Friday prayers to be housed in the Squarehouse.  

Furthermore, whilst the petition was advertised, and unbeknown to us, a Brunei delegation had attended the Friday services brought there by the International Office. To our understanding, both they and the International Office were not very happy with our announcement of the University's decision. In future services, we will do our best to ensure that the University's decisions are communicated to our members without causing too much damage to the University's reputation to guests. 

A regular attendee of the Friday prayers is a member of the Malaysian consulate who visits UNSW to liaise with International students from Malaysia and who reside in the Malaysia Hall on Alison Rd, Randwick. We do not believe it will serve the University's reputation well if such a person is told not to attend the prayer services given the financial contribution the Malaysian government has made to both the Medina College Ltd project as well as to the University in general.   

The Possible Impact on UNSW  

The Islamic Society on Campus appreciates the support the university has provided The Muslim student population on campus has expanded greatly in the last year due to a surge of international student applications. We do not think it is in the university’s best interests for these students to be told to forego their obligatory Friday Prayers. Such a move may encourage these students to transfer to another university which is more willing to respect their decision to practise their faith and to manifest it in the university. It may also send a signal to foreign governments with a high Muslim population to stop sending prospective university students to UNSW.   

The Anzac Room (Squarehouse Level 1)  

The Islamic Society and the Muslim Chaplain have consistently made special provisions for Friday prayers so that students are free to attend their exams and complete their religious obligations every examination period.  This includes shortening the prayer services and starting the services at an earlier time.  We note that alternative locations to pray off-campus will not accommodate such changes to suit the needs of the students on campus.  

We are willing to shorten the Friday prayer services such that the Anzac Room in the Squarehouse can be used as both an examination room and as a prayer hall.  This was the arrangement during the examination period last year, and there were no disruptions caused by it.  We have demonstrated our commitment to facilitating the university's use of the area as an examination area after Friday Prayers are conducted on many occasions including the past few weeks.  On the 15th May, we were able to prepare the room for examination use by 2pm despite not being foretold of an exam immediately after the session would finish.  There is no reason to suggest that, with the University's cooperation, we will not be able to repeat this performance.  
 

Alternative venues  

Alternatively, we note that the University has in the past provided other venues more appropriate for the Friday prayers. These include Leighton Hall and the sports hall of the gymnasium.  

We have been told that the gymnasium is being used by school groups or other external parties and therefore cannot be provided to Muslim students. We believe Muslim students and staff contribute much more to University life and its academic reputation than do school groups that occasionally rent out the sports hall. Therefore, the University students and staff should be afforded a greater priority to utilize the facilities available on campus. We would readily accept the gymnasium as a place to hold the Friday prayers.  

Due to the high number of students and staff attending the prayers, we will not entertain any suggestion that we should limit the number of worshippers to have access to our services. Nor will we accept any legal responsibility for any injuries or accidents that result from the use of inadequate facilities provided to us by the University in relation to the location of the Friday Prayers.  

We would most appreciate for the Anzac room to be made available for both the Friday prayers and examination throughout the examination period. This believe that this is a venue which has most accommodated our needs.   

We consider the decision to move the Friday prayers back to Sam Cracknall Pavilion a mistake on the part of the University and wish for it to be revised. We would also like the University to explain why Sam Cracknell Pavilion is a venue which adequately meets the needs of Muslims on campus whilst also meeting the safety regulations associated with the venue.  

We urge you to reconsider your decisions as they have a profound impact upon a large number of Muslim students and staff on campus. We fear that this incident may harm the reputation of the University overseas and this is neither in the interests of the Islamic Society on Campus nor the University of New South Wales.  

We thank you for your attendance to this matter, and await your urgent reply.  

Kind regards,