Around New England

Misspelling Triggers Muslims at Williams College

March 22, 2018

A sign saying “Muslin Common Room” instead of “Muslim Common Room” enraged Muslims on the campus of Williams College — once they realized they should be angry about it.

“I noticed the sign was incorrect when someone forwarded me a picture, and it was funny, especially with the memes people were making — but it quickly turned to anger because it just became emblematic of the ways in which Muslim students on campus have had to fight for the smallest things and get sidelined and accused of being needy,” said Minority Coalition co-chairman Amina Awad, a senior, according to the Williams Record.

The misspelling, by someone in campus facilities who was assigned to make the sign, was quickly fixed by replacing the old sign with a new sign. But the trauma it caused led to expressions of other deficiencies experienced by Muslim students on campus, including the inadequacy of the couches in the Muslim common room.

Students have created a banner called “Muslin Common Room” that includes anecdotes of Islamophobia and sexism on campus.