“It was pretty intimidating to have to choose the career I’m trying to pursue and do for the rest of my life versus the religion that I’m following,” the student said.

TENNESSEE – An American students of Georgia Career Institute said she has been expelled after starting to wear  hijab, Huffington Post reported.

“The hostility started the moment I started wearing my hijab,” said Linde McAvoy, a 21-year-old student of Georgia Career Institute (GCI).

“I thought GCI would be a place where I could learn a trade but instead, they took my money, openly discriminated against me and kicked me out for being a Muslim.”

“It’s not right and it’s not fair”, she added.

The incident was rejected by Muslim Advocates and the law firm Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP who both send a demand letter asking GCI to refund McAvoy’s tuition and amend its dress code.

“Almost immediately after she started wearing it, Ms. McAvoy began facing harassment from GCI administrators. For example, Joyce Meadows—GCI’s President and CEO, who is also the Campus Director for the Murfreesboro Campus—started insisting that Ms. McAvoy remove the hijab, citing the school’s dress code”, Muslim Advocates said in the letter sent to GCI.

“Even after Ms. McAvoy explained that she wore her hijab out of religious obligation, Ms. Meadows insisted on its removal, despite the fact that the dress code does not prohibit religious head coverings. Ms. McAvoy was repeatedly ejected from her classes for wearing her hijab”, the letter said.

The letter asked for full refund, monetary settlement, a clear dress code that does not violate federal civil rights law, and anti-discrimination training for all GCI staff and its owner to ensure that no other GCI student endures this type of harassment and discrimination.

Denial

The college president Joyce Meadows denied McAvoy’s allegations in a statement as “unfounded” and said the school’s “staff, students and graduates represent every possible cultural, racial and religious group.

However, Nimra Azmi, staff attorney for Muslim Advocates, described GCI as discriminatory.

“GCI’s behavior is reprehensible, discriminatory, and illegal. GCI receives federal student loans and has to comply with federal antidiscrimination mandates,” said Azmi.

“GCI promised Ms. McAvoy a pathway to accreditation in her field, but instead expelled her simply because she is a practicing Muslim.”

Luna Droubi, Partner at Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP, said: “To force a woman to choose between her religion and her education goes against every value we have in this country. Ms. McAvoy is proudly standing up not just for herself, but for other Muslim students who should not be forced to make this impossible choice.”

Islamophobia against Muslim Americans has significantly increased over the past two years.

A Pew Research study reported that hate crimes against Muslims in 2017 well exceeded the number that occurred after the Sept. 11 attacks across the United States.

After the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, there were 93 anti-Muslim assaults and in 2017 there were 127, according to the study.