The University of Michigan-Dearborn recently spent about $25,000 to build foot baths for Muslim students to wash their feet before prayer.
The construction came after Muslim students and visitors resorted to using sinks in public restrooms to wash their feet. Those using the sinks were at risk of slipping on wet bathroom floors and hurting themselves, students and faculty complained about sanitation issues and the bathroom facilities themselves endured more wear and tear, in part from years of washings.
The foot baths, which are part of a restroom renovation project and are expected to be completed by the end of the year, consist of a faucet at knee-level, surrounded by a drain on the floor.
Two will be installed in a pair of new, unisex bathrooms, which also will have diaper-changing stations and facilities for mothers to nurse infants, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Many people are up in arms about a potential conflict regarding the separation of church and state, but the university is using student money on the renovations, not taxpayer funds.
When the school approved plans to build the foot baths, the local Muslim community began planning to raise the necessary $25,000 for the construction. Instead, the university decided to use student infrastructure fees, part of the school’s general fund used for campus maintenance and general construction, according to the Los Angeles Times.
More than a dozen U.S. schools already have installed foot baths like UM-Dearborn’s or are in the process of constructing them, and at least nine U.S. universities already have rooms on campus dedicated to Muslim prayers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This includes Eastern Michigan University, which received no negative feedback for including a private bathroom with a foot-washing area in a new student union opening in November, according to The Detroit News.
These universities are providing Muslims the opportunity to practice their religion with a little more ease, a bold and important step in a country rife with religious intolerance, misconceptions and blind hatred against Muslims.
People have no problem with universities like MSU that have on-campus chapels and provide traditional food for Jews during Passover, but the public decries any kind of provisions made for the ever-increasing U.S. Muslim population.
Nothing about the on-campus foot baths encourages Islam, and anyone can use them – such construction is nonintrusive and doesn’t force or encourage one belief on the students.
Non-Muslim students at UM-Dearborn favor the construction because they will no longer have to wash their hands in the same place Muslims wash their feet, and the risk of slipping on a wet floor is eliminated.
Support student media!
Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Discussion
Share and discuss “Foot baths not mix of church, state” on social media.
