Imagine it’s Christmas morning.
Your entire family is gathered around the Christmas tree. The feeling of excitement fills the air.
After exchanging gifts and sharing laughs, everyone in your family gathers for one big family photo. Everyone except you, because you were at school. You had to skip celebrating this special day with family because you had a presentation for class and an exam.
Of course, this scenario would never happen. But for your Muslim friends and peers, this is a reality.
As President of Saint Xavier’s Student Government Association, I was tasked with leading initiatives that would help make Saint Xavier an inclusive environment.
That’s why we proposed and passed a resolution for Eid al Adha and Eid al Fitr to be observed as an academic holiday.
There is no formal process for SGA to propose a policy change. The last legislative effort by SGA was in 2014 when SXU’s current Tobacco-Free Campus policy was enacted.
That’s why we met with President Joyner on September 12, 2022 to figure out what that process would be. We learned that our proposed resolution would need to pass through the Faculty Senate, since it involves academic affairs.
After a unanimous vote by SGA Executive Board, the Eid resolution was adopted on September 26. Following that, Faculty Senate passed the resolution with a majority vote on January 27, 2023.
I attended the Staff Council meeting on February 23 to present the resolution and it was also passed in favor by Staff. I met with Provost Othman during both semesters about this.
On September 7 and February 23, he consistently emphasized that I develop a “criteria” to justify the university observing Eid.
I was also advised by administrative members to consider the “cost of staff being off” and to provide data on the number of Muslim students.
From this point, the resolution was ignored until I reached out to Maggie Eahart about presenting to senior leadership team. I was redirected to Katy Thomspon, Dean of Students, where she informed me that she’d add it to the April agenda and present on behalf of SGA.
With the support of students, faculty, and staff, Katy Thompson and Provost Othman presented the Eid resolution as well as SGA’s proposed amendments to President Joyner and the senior leadership team on April 10.
After months of exhaustive research, review, debate, and scrutiny before the resolution reached the president’s office, the news was disheartening. But not discouraging.
The administration decided to table the Eid resolution. “Given the lasting impact of such an adjustment,” the administration explained, “it is prudent to await incoming leadership to allow for their consideration.”
The lasting impact of removing entire majors from SXU’s course catalog did not stop the SXU administration from doing so earlier this semester. Neither should it stop the administration from adopting this Eid resolution before the end of President Joyner’s tenure at SXU.
Instead, the administration opted to include a “standard statement on all course syllabi that students expressing desire to miss class due to a sincerely held religious belief be afforded an excused class absence.”
Although well intentioned, codifying a de facto policy of most SXU faculty provides no net benefit to SXU students.
If diversity, equity, and inclusion are institutional priorities, then the Eid resolution is a priority. Adopting the Eid resolution is an actionable step SXU administrators can take to be more inclusive. Plastering visibly Muslim women wearing the hijab on SXU’s highway billboards and social media ads are not.
The administration also shared with us that timing was an issue because final changes to the academic calendar are due in the early spring semester. There was no timeline discussed with me until my last meeting with President Joyner, on April 11, where she shared the deadline.
It is understandable that there are financial considerations that the administration must account for when adopting this resolution. And as SXU approaches the enrollment cliff of 2025, I hope the SXU administration understands that the Muslim community’s college-age population continues to grow.
The State of Illinois has the largest Muslim per-capita population in the United States. This community is also concentrated around Chicago.
In addition to benefiting the student body, observing Eid as an academic holiday would provide SXU an edge in attracting students from a fast growing demographic in the competitive Chicagoland higher education arena. Thus, any costs the university may incur is certainly not money lost.
Not only that, Saint Xavier has the opportunity to set the precedent for local schools and attract students that would otherwise choose not to attend.
Saint Xavier’s mission and mercy values are rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Adopting the Eid resolution would be a decisive and noble end to President Joyner’s tenure, and a perpetual parting gift to future generations of SXU Cougars.
By: Jenan Said
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