TO THE EDITOR:
I have mixed feelings about the new “meditation room” praised by Monday’s editorial. While it refers to itself as inclusive for all religions, there is little debate that it is primarily for Muslims. Akin to calling a “Christmas tree” a “holiday tree,” it changes little. But this is about more than politics — I’ll leave the political bantering to pundits.
I question why the Union chose to take such obviously controversial action to address what should be a simple concern. The editorial said it perfectly: “(Muslim) prayer times often coincide with the times hardest to find an empty room.” Therein lies the much simpler solution: reform the room sign-up process to streamline the process of reserving a room. Not only will this benefit Muslims, but all groups on campus who have weekly meetings, or even groups who wish to meet multiple times a day or week. It actually addresses the root of the problem rather than putting a Band-Aid on a legitimate student concern.
I do not doubt the good intentions of the University in doing this. What I do suspect is that the University took a logistics problem and turned it into an identity problem. Whether this was done for politics or out of sheer laziness, I do not know. Nonetheless, there is a certain irony in promoting inclusivity by needlessly emphasizing religious division — a line we at UNC should know better than to tread.
Zuhaib Mahmood
Senior
Political Science
