University Accommodation of Non-Majority Religions: Legitimate Protection of Students’ Right to Practice or Unconstitutional Governmental Endorsement?
University Accommodation of Non-Majority Religions: Legitimate Protection of Students’ Right to Practice or Unconstitutional Governmental Endorsement?
Kevin Graves, 37 J.L. & Educ. 291 (2008)
Universities nationwide are taking steps to accommodate the increasingly diverse religious practices of their student populations. Recently, the University of Michigan-Dearborn announced plans to spend twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) on the installation of footbaths in its educational buildings. The footbaths will accommodate the university’s Muslim students, whose religious beliefs require that they wash their feet before prayer. Critics of the footbaths claim that this seemingly innocuous action violates the First Amendment’s prohibition against state endorsement of religion.
This note will explore the constitutionality of the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s decision to accommodate Muslim students by installing footbaths. Additionally, this note will assist school officials in choosing ways to accommodate the progressively diverse religious beliefs of their student bodies without violating the Constitution.