News Team Boulder

Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Vanna Livaditis

Crunches, sit-ups and lunges are hard. But for some Muslim women on campus, the workout process is even harder.

CU student Tara Delancey is the secretary of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and unlike many women on campus, her religion restricts her from exercising in front of men without wearing her traditional dress.

"It's prohibited for women to show anything but hands and face to strange men," Delancey said.

Delancey and members of the MSA brought their problem to the attention of the CU Recreation board. Since then they've been working together to work out their dilemma.

" It's not that they can't work out in front of men," Luke Morin, chair of the recreation board said, "It's that they have to wear their traditional dress while they are swimming or running, so it creates problems for them as a group."

Delancey feels that working out in her traditional dress is too hot and uncomfortable. Currently she only works out at home.

Morin said that the MSA will be accommodated as any other student group on campus would be. Muslim women will be able to schedule times for private workouts in rooms and pools provided by the Recreation Center.

" It's not a difficult request at all," Morin said. "It's no different than any other student group asking for time or place. It's identical essentially."

Only one other school in the nation has dealt with this problem. Harvard University has recently banned men from their workout center during certain hours of the week. Morin said this won't happen at CU, and that the MSA's request was simple.

" It wasn't we want you to shut down the rec center for us, or we want to knock other users aside. It was is there a solution we can come to accommodate our group."

Delancey hopes that soon she can put her tennis shoes good use, ones that have yet to run, walk, tread or climb in the rec center.

"I'd like to use the rock wall," Delancey said.

Watch The Video

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools