If There Is Room for Zaytuna College, Is There Room for Gordon College and Authentic Catholic Universities?

 

Word comes that Zaytuna College, an Islamic institution located in Berkley, California, has received initial accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the same body from which UC Berkley and Stanford University receive their accreditation.  Some on the political right (Breitbart) are not happy about this development, in part because of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli statements of some individuals involved in founding Zaytuna.  In addition, they report that Hazam Yusuf, the College's president, signed a much publicized letter condemning ISIS but supporting the establishment of a caliphate and the imposition of the death penalty under sharia law for Muslims who openly renounce Islam.

Plainly, the views of at least some Zaytuna administrators represent something out of the mainstream relative to the views of most college administrators.  Although it is unlikely that such views will be greeted by shouts of "Je Suis Charlie!" (and putting to one side the merits of such views), there can be no doubt that they constitute a contribution to the plurality of views that the First Amendment was designed to foster and protect.  (Holmes' "marketplace of ideas" includes the souk).

Of greater importance is the pluralism in higher education that Zaytuna College itself represents.  Zaytuna expressly identifies itself as a "Muslim liberal arts college" and forthrightly states that its "aim and ambition is to fully participate in a renewal of the teachings embedded in the Islamic religious tradition so that students may grasp their relevance to the present world" (see here).  Zaytuna's mission is "to educate and prepare morally committed, professional, intellectual, and spiritual leaders who are grounded in the Islamic scholarly tradition and conversant with the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society" (Id.).

One might ask what sort of "moral commitment" Zaytuna is seeking in its students?  Here, the College makes clear that "[s]tudents, faculty, staff and visitors are strictly forbidden" from using or promoting the use of tobacco, alcohol and "illegal or controlled drugs or intoxicants" (here p. 49).  Violation of this policy may be grounds for expulsion.  Men and women must dress modestly and in a way "consistent with the dignity adherent to representing a Muslim institution of higher education" (Id. at 48).  "Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, revealing, or form fitting" and women's skirts and trousers "must be full length" (Id.).  Moreover, "Muslim students should not visit bars, discos, casinos, or other places where actions prohibited in Islam (e.g. drinking alcohol) are the primary activity" (Id. at 49).

With respect to housing, all student housing is single-sex and "students of opposite gender are not permitted to visit each other in student housing" (Id. at 66).  Violation of this policy may be grounds for expulsion.  Beyond this, in order to foster "spiritual growth" and "moral formation" consistent with "Islamic norms," when outside of class "students should study and socialize with members of their own gender" (Id. at 49).

Most significantly, Zaytuna's student catalogue provides that "[d]ating, sexual activity, or romantic relationships among unmarried Muslim students are not allowed either on campus or off campus" (Id.).  Violations of this policy "are deemed serious and will result in disciplinary action, which may include expulsion" (Id.).  The catalogue expressly provides that "[s]tudents of other faiths are also expected to abide by the Honor Code, although they are not required to attend extracurricular religious services and prayers and are free to practice their own faith or philosophy" (Id. at 37).  The Honor Code does not specifically prohibit "dating" or "sexual activity" but these prohibitions, which  do expressly apply to Muslim students, could be applied to non-Muslims under the Honor Code's general principles of "Propriety and Modesty" and "Sobriety and Restraint," and as the Dean of Student Life may provide (Id.).  The catalogue does not specifically mention homosexuality, and I suppose it is possible to interpret Zaytuna's catalogue as not prohibiting "sexual activity" between two students of the same sex who are married under state law, but I somehow doubt that administrators at Zaytuna would subscribe to such a reading.

In previous posts on MOJ Rick Garnett has commented on the current threat to Gordon College's accreditation, and by implication, the threat to institutional pluralism and the religious liberty of other religiously affiliated colleges and universities foreshadowed by this incident (see here, here, and here). 

Gordon is a Christian college that expects its students, faculty and staff to abide by Scriptural standards of conduct and refrain from "blasphemy, profanity, dishonesty, theft, drunkenness, sexual relations outside marriage, and homosexual practice."   Gordon makes clear that these actions "will not be tolerated in the lives of Gordon community members, either on or off campus" (see here).  

Gordon's accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges' Commission on Institutions of Higher Education initiated a process to determine "whether Gordon College's traditional inclusion of 'homosexual practice' as a forbidden activity . . . [is] contrary to the Commission's Standards for Accreditation," a process that now requires a the College to submit a report in September 2015 (see here).

Why the difference?  Why is the Islamic college granted accreditation and the Christian college threatened with revocation of its accreditation?  It may be a difference in standards between the NEASC and the WASC.   There doesn't appear to be the equivalent of NEASC's non-discrimination norm in Standard 11.5 (here) in the WASC  standards (here) although WASC's diversity policy (here) would seem to allow for the application similar regulatory pressure.  Or it may be a difference in the relative zeal of the enforcers.

Or the difference may due to a desire on the part of accrediting bodies to appear to be open and welcoming to those who are deemed appropriately "diverse" -- a category that does not include traditional Christianity.  Is it due to a fear of Islam or of appearing Islamaphobic and of reprisals that would ensue following a denial of accreditation?  Whereas religious identity can be discounted and treated as an empty remnant where Christianity is involved?

If this is not the case -- if the decision to grant accreditation to a college like Zaytuna is in fact principled, based on a genuine respect for diversity and institutional autonomy in higher education as it relates to religious identity -- then surely a similar decision can encompass a Christian college like Gordon.

Presently, there is no threat to Catholic colleges and universities that express their identity in similar policies regarding the behavior of students, faculty and staff (Catholic elementary and secondary schools are, of course, another matter, see here).  This may be due to the fact only a handful of Catholic colleges and universities maintain standards regarding student sexual conduct beyond sexual activity that is non-consensual (compare the standards at Notre Dame and Franciscan-Steubenville with those at Marquette and Loyola-Chicago).  But if the accrediting bodies are allowed to bludgeon small Christian colleges like Gordon in the name of an intolerant tolerance, does anyone really believe that that will be the end of it?