By Sufia Langevin – Associate Editor 

The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) has organized for the Grad Formal, a fun formal party for graduating students to celebrate their years of hard work, to land on the same day as Eid-al-Fitr, the most important Muslim holiday. This scheduling decision forces graduating Muslim students to pick between celebrating their achievements and degrees with friends at Bishop’s, or their most important holy day with their families, impacting both their communities and emphasizing that while Muslim students may attend Bishop’s University, their inclusion is not a priority for the SRC. 

The SRC has a responsibility to represent, act on behalf of, and include all students as our accredited student union. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is listed as Objective Four under the strategic priority of engagement and support in the SRC 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, and yet it was not a value that was embodied by the SRC when making the decision to host Grad Formal on April 10. Rather, they chose to isolate and alienate any graduating students who observe Ramadan and celebrate Eid-al-Fitr. 

The burden this decision places on Muslim students cannot be understated. They are forced to choose between spending that day celebrating their most significant religious holiday – a grand feast that marks the end of a month of fasting between sunrise and sunset – or celebrating with their friends that they have made while pursuing degrees at Bishop’s, marking the end of years of study and dedication and the opening of a new chapter of their lives. For many Muslim students, this is an impossible choice, whose ramifications are far-reaching. This does not impact only the student who faces the choice, but their home communities, their friends in the Bishop’s community and anyone who knows them. 

After I reached out to the SRC general manager, Erin Mallory, and the director of events, Bryn Empey, Empey wrote in an email that “this was indeed an oversight on our part” and go on to say “we acknowledge the harm that can be caused by failing to consider important dates for members of our community”. They offered me no apology or attempt to reduce the harm that is actively and currently being caused for Muslim community members as a result of their decision. They point to the fact that the incoming SRC team will be trained on “the imperativeness of using an EDI lens” – a passive statement that frames equity, diversity and inclusion as a lens or framework that can be chosen to be used or not, rather than an embedded set of values to be enacted by the members and representatives of the organization. 

Muslim students who are forced to make this decision are further alienated from their communities during a time of great vulnerability. They are currently observing Ramadan, a month where between sunrise and sunset, they ingest no food or water. It can be difficult to follow these practices, especially when they overlap with the end of semester and finals, and this latest decision from the SRC only serves to isolate them more. 

From March 29 – April 1, the university will be closed to observe the Christian holiday of Easter. On April 10, however, Muslim students will be forced to choose between celebrating their academic achievements or their religious practices, alienating them from one of their communities no matter which decision they make. 

Editor’s note: The SRC general manager Erin Mallory responded to a request for comment from the editor-in-chief. She said, “We really struggled this year to find a date that worked. We are very apologetic that we missed the fact this was Eid” and acknowledged this was an oversight on their part.