GEORGIA – A leading American Muslim civil rights group has welcomed the medical school’s decision to withdraw its requirement that an incoming female Muslim student remove her clothing in front of her male classmates.

“An aspiring female doctor should never have to choose between her faith and her education,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, executive director of the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-GA) in a statement obtained by AboutIslam.net.

“She can fulfill the obligations of both, like so many orthodox Jewish and Muslim medical professionals before her.”

The problem erupted when a medical student, who graduated near the top of her college class, faced the prospect of dismissal if she did not agree to strip down to a sports bra, tank top and gym shorts in front of the opposite sex during classroom role play scenarios.

She sought assistance from CAIR-GA, which contacted the college to seek a compromise.

“Although CAIR-GA understands that medical students must fully engage in the educational process, there must be a way for female students to do so without stripping down to a sports bra and gym shorts in view of their male classmates,” CAIR-GA said.

“After all, employers and educators in various fields, from medicine to sports to law enforcement, manage to successfully accommodate various religious garments,” Mitchell added in a letter to the college.

“Indeed, American Muslim women who wear hijabs serve as paramedics, nurses, doctors, police officers, and, as of 2016, even Olympic athletes.”

The medical school ultimately agreed that the student could engage in doctor/patient role play scenarios with other female students in a secluded area of her classroom, exposing only those areas of her body necessary for examination.

The new policy would also apply to other students with a religious objection publicly unclothing before the opposite sex such as Orthodox Jews.