Muslim Students Association

The Muslim Students Association (MSA) is dedicated to serving Muslim students on college campuses in North America. The main focus is to serve Muslim students who practice Islam as a way of life while balancing their academic responsibilities. Since 1955, the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) has been serving the spiritual needs of Muslim students at Harvard University while providing resources and education to the college community about Islam.

MSA National is a religious organization that was established in January 1963 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by 75 Muslim students representing 10 colleges across the United States and Canada. Since then, over 600 MSA chapters in higher education institutions in North America have been providing support, resources, and coordination among affiliated MSA chapters. Not all Muslim student organizations are necessarily affiliated with MSA National, and some Muslim student organizations are called by the name “Islamic Society” or “Islamic Center.” Local chapters may choose to adopt the guidelines of the National MSA office, but there is no fixed structure between MSA National and local organizations.

Initially, Muslim Students Associations, Student Unions, or Islamic Societies in North America consisted of a few foreign graduate students, but they later grew to encompass both undergraduate and graduate students in private and public academic institutions in the United States and Canada. Estimates of the population of Muslim students in North American colleges vary from 75,000 to 1 million. Their numbers grew after 1950, and the demand for MSA organizations increased. Muslim students can be immigrants or the children of immigrants, native-born Muslims, and American or Canadian converts to Islam.

In Europe, there are also Muslim student organizations, such the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisation (FEMYSO), which was established in 1995. In North America, MSA organizations can also be found in high schools to provide social and religious support for students and guidance in both academic and religious issues. It is important that such organizations exist to support Muslims students because, particularly in primary and secondary schools, Muslim students may experience “deficit model” treatment that is directed to most minority students, such as low teacher expectations and peer pressure in coed classroom settings to represent their religion and culture, as well as receiving ESL class placements even if they are native speakers, and being scheduled to lower-level course choices by school counselors. MSA organizations around the world fulfill the need to support Muslim students, who require delicate negotiations about their religious and cultural practices in school settings.

While pursuing higher education, Muslim students reconcile their religious requirements, such as praying five times a day or fasting during the month of Ramadan. Student organizations at higher education institutions seek certain accommodations to balance the demands of their [Page 1530]academic requirements and religious responsibilities. The response to the needs of Muslim students depends on the university's secular orientation, its commitment to diversity, its interpretation of “equality” and “equity,” and its interpretation of the policies and procedures that are in place. Some institutions acknowledge the religious holidays in their academic calendar, provide space for prayer, accommodate meal requests, and/or welcome Muslim chaplains to their campuses, whereas others may see the MSA campus organizations as problematic or unfairly offering privileges to one group of students.

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