College students observing Ramadan and fasting during the day can now wait until night to take exams. A new Accommodation Law in Washington requires faculty to accommodate students when faith and studies conflict. Faculty will reschedule tests that would be a hardship due to any religious practices and holidays.
The law, signed April 29, 2019, by Gov. Jay Inslee, grew out of a biology class at the University of Washington Bothell, taught by Bryan White, a lecturer in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics.
Food and focus
White noticed that a student who had done well on the first three exams did much worse on the final. She mentioned she had been fasting for Ramadan, the month when Muslims do not eat during daylight hours. The next year, 2017, White and engineering faculty member Rania Hussein offered exam options at night after their Muslim students could eat and so perform at the level of their usual abilities.
Hussein, now a lecturer in Electrical & Computer Engineering at the UW Seattle campus, played an essential role in raising awareness of the initiative, White said.
This year’s Ramadan, May 6 to June 4, falls in spring quarter, which ends June 14. As the new law takes effect July 1, 2019, faculty are considering various accommodation measures and working on official protocols for the future, said Wayne Au, interim dean of Diversity & Equity and campus diversity officer.
How kindness becomes law
News coverage of the night exams at UW Bothell sparked two UW students in Seattle to carry the issue forward. Byron Dondoyano Jr. and Mennah El-Gammal pushed a measure through student government, the ASUW, and then through the Washington Legislature.
They lobbied Sen. Bob Hasegawa, who sponsored SB 5166, the bill that became law. The students organized a coalition that grew to include the Jewish Federation, Council for American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-Defamation League and Faith Action Network.
