The president of Northwestern University has called on United Airlines to formally apologize to the school’s Muslim chaplain, whose claim of discrimination on a flight from Chicago has sparked a social media campaign and boycott.
In a letter to United CEO Jeff Smisek, University President Morton Schapiro said he was disappointed at the “outrageous and discriminatory treatment” of Tahera Ahmad, an associate chaplain and the director of interfaith engagement at Northwestern.
Ahmad was flying from Chicago to Washington, D.C., last week on a United flight operated by Shuttle America when a flight attendant brought her an opened can of Diet Coke. Ahmad documented the encounter and its aftermath on Facebook.
According to her posts, when Ahmad requested an unopened can for sanitary reasons, the flight attendant declined, saying the airline didn’t serve unopened beverages because they could be used as weapons.
Ahmad, according to her posts, pointed out another passenger’s unopened beer and accused the crew member of discriminating against her because she was wearing a headscarf. The flight attendant then abruptly opened the other passenger’s beer, according to the posts, while another passenger leaned across the aisle to tell Ahmad that she as a Muslim would use it as a weapon and to be quiet.
Ahmad was heading to the nation’s capital to participate in a conference hosted by Kids4Peace, an interfaith youth movement. She recently appeared in a PBS documentary titled “The Calling,” which portrays the struggles of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders. She has led international workshops on cultural awareness for the U.S. State Department and was invited by President Barack Obama to the White House last year for her pioneering work as a Muslim woman.
In 2013 she became the first woman to recite verses from the Quran at the Islamic Society of North America convention in Washington, D.C.
“Tahera Ahmad is the Muslim chaplain at Northwestern, one of the few female Muslim chaplains in the country, and an esteemed leader in our community,” Schapiro said. “Yet she was treated with a complete lack of respect. ... The extraordinarily unprofessional and humiliating treatment of one of our community members is shockingly disappointing.”
Charles Hobart, a spokesman for United, said the airline will respond to Schapiro’s letter. He said the airline has had two conversations with Ahmad as well as “in-depth conversations” with the Shuttle America flight crew to “get a better understanding of what occurred from their perspective.”
“We’re a company that does not discriminate and we don’t tolerate discrimination from our employees or our customers,” Hobart said. “The president asked that we apologize to Ms. Ahmad and we have done that.”
Ahmad said in her posts that the flight attendant and pilot later apologized and escorted her to the United customer service desk inside the Washington airport to file a formal complaint. She since has expressed disappointment that United has reduced the incident to a misunderstanding about a can of Diet Coke.
Indeed, Schapiro said the airline’s apologies have not gone far enough.
“While that is a first step, it should not be the last,” he said. “Chaplain Ahmad should receive a more formal apology from United, along with assurances that United will train its staff so that she, and others, are never again subjected to such discrimination on a United flight.”