Implementing Sharia at Harvard

In the old days, Harvard would have laughed if some Catholic or evangelical mother urged “girls-only” campus workouts in the name of modesty. Today, Harvard happily implements Sharia swim times in the name of Mohammed.

At Harvard, that’s called progress.

Is that discrimination? Why no, says Harvard flack Bob Mitchell:

When I asked Harvard spokesman Bob Mitchell about this new Sharia-friendly policy, he denied that they were banning anyone. “No, no,” he told me, “we’re permitting women to work out in an environment that accommodates their religion.”

By banning all men from the facility, right?

“It’s not ‘banning,’ ” he insisted. “We’re allowing, we’re accommodating people.”

Of course academia always claims to be above greed. Just until someone offers the right incentive.

And then there’s that ultimate FOH (Friend of Harvard) Sheik Al Waleed bin Talal.

This Saudi sheik stroked a check for $20 million to promote the study of Islam. Harvard took the check, no questions asked.

They didn’t ask, for example, about bin Talal’s gift of nearly $30 million to a fund for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Knowing their kin will benefit financially is an inducement to young people planning to blow themselves up in Tel Aviv pizza parlors, and Sheik bin Talal made sure the money was there.

It reminds me of the story about a man who asked if a woman would go to bed with him for a dollar. She said no. Then he asked if she would for a million dollars. She agreed. He then lowered his offer and she asked "what do you think I am?" He replied "I know what you are, we're just haggling about the price.

For a campus with a Sharia-friendly record like Harvard’s, mandating single-sex pilates is no big deal.

It would be nice to think that there were still a few liberals or feminists with the good sense - or sense of decency - to be embarrassed by all this. This is, after all, the same college that sued to keep military recruiters off campus over the issue of gay rights.

Perhaps someone in the bin Talal Islamic Studies Program could let Harvard know what the sheik’s pals in Saudi Arabia actually do to gay people. It’s worse than just banning them from the weight room.