Women Only Staff Too for Harvard Gym

As I suspected, not only is the gym off-limits to men during the special women-only times, the gym staff has to be women too.  How many people does Harvard inconvenience to accomodate a handful of Muslim students?  From an AP story published at The Times of India:

"BOSTON: In a test of Harvard’s famed open-mindedness, the university has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week to accommodate Muslim women who say it offends their sense of modesty to exercise in front of the opposite sex."

"...No men are allowed in the gym between 3 pm and 5 pm on Mondays, and between 8 am and 10 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even the staff during those times is all women."

"...The special hours allow the Muslim women, who adhere to traditional dress codes by covering their hair and most of their skin while in public, to dress more appropriately for exercising, said Susan Marine, director of the women’s center.... The women-only hours are of minimal inconvenience as they are just six out of the 70 hours a week the gym is open, Marine said. 'Harvard has a moral and ethical responsibility to make sure our students can stay healthy,' she said. "

Ms. Marine, no one is stopping this handful of students from exercising.  They're stopping themselves and forcing their "religion" on everybody else.  This is what happens when Harvard accords greater respect to every other culture except its very own.   

So, Ms. Marine, what does the director of Harvard's Women's Center think about the fiqh class about menstruation taught to Muslim students at Harvard in May 2007 (Bukhari Institute class held in Canaday Musalla), which taught that a women who isn't menstruating cannot refuse to have intercourse with her husband?   Does that fit with the Women's Center's mission to "promote awareness of women's and gender issues?" 

A Muslim reader wrote to me today, critical that Harvard aquiesced to the Harvard Islamic Society. He refers to these college student groups - heavily influenced by Muslim Brotherhood organizations such as the Muslim American Society and Muslim Student Association - as waging a "stealth jihad." He wrote:

"Does Susan Marine know that Muslim women have fought in wars, side by side with men, even at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, 1400 years ago?  Did Harvard get a vote from all the Muslim students and Muslim Alumnae and make a decision with their input?  Isn't that the democratic process?"

Answers: No, no, and who cares about the democratic process at Harvard?