Room for meditation at center of dispute

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A room for peaceful reflection and prayer at the University of Michigan-Flint has become a source of interfaith tension.

Room 386 at the University Center, also called the Meditation Room, is at the center of a religious dispute between Muslim and non-Muslim students.

Complaints started in November that some Muslim students were monopolizing the space, which is about the size of a storage room, and filling it with religious paraphernalia and anti-Israel literature. Muslim students responded that they were being unfairly targeted, and appealed to the university.

"I do think that the current political climate does contribute to Islamophobia," said Bishr Aldabagh, a former Student Government Council president and student commencement speaker. "The room serves the needs of students from different religions, but I do think that the reaction would have been different if the room was used predominantly by Christians or Jews."