CAIR: One in every two Muslim students faces harassment, discrimination in California
Nearly half of Muslim students surveyed at California colleges and universities say they have faced harassment or discrimination
CALIFORNIA, United States (MNTV) – Nearly half of Muslim students surveyed at California colleges and universities say they have faced harassment or discrimination on campus this year.
It is one of several troubling findings in the latest Council on American-Islamic Relations Campus Climate report.
A school should be a place where students can learn and live safely. But many Muslim students experience a very different reality on California campuses, including Stanford University student Iman Deriche.
“I remember the first day after October 7, receiving a phone call from my father telling me to stay inside, lock my doors and be careful when I’m walking around campus,” Deriche said. “I didn’t understand at first, but just after one week, his suggestions became a necessary part of my daily routine. The fear and anxiety I experience every time I leave my dorm has been overwhelming since last year.”
It is the same Islamophobia that a majority of the 720 students surveyed across 87 California colleges and universities reported experiencing, according to the 2024 CAIR Campus Climate report.
“Unfortunately, the numbers paint a troubling picture,” CAIR-SFBA senior civil rights attorney Jeffrey Wang said.
“Islamophobia has become persistent, pervasive and normalized in colleges across the nation, and our Muslim students are paying the price,” CAIR-SFBA policy coordinator Musa Tariq said.
Nearly half of respondents reported harassment or discrimination on campus, with almost all saying it occurred after October 7, 2023.
Many worry that nothing is being done to protect them: 65% said their schools did not address issues affecting the Muslim community.
University of California, Berkeley student Zaid Yousef said normalization and fear for safety have contributed to under-reporting.
“Especially post-9/11, we’ve lived in a world where Islamophobia is so normalized that even Muslims sometimes feel that Islamophobia is normal—that the casual life of a Muslim entails Islamophobia at almost every level,” Yousef said. “So, we ask the larger community to acknowledge this reality and work on undoing this normalization of Islamophobia.”
Students also worry that Islamophobia may intensify under a new presidency.
Still, they hope that raising awareness through the report will inspire change and lead to better protection for those at risk.
“There’s definitely uncertainty about what the future will bring and justifiably so,” Yousef said. “But at the same time, we have hope in our allies, we have hope in our community, our institutions, in organizations like CAIR that are doing amazing work to protect our rights. And we hope to keep fighting the good fight.”
The fight, they say, is for a safe and inclusive society for all.
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