Next academic year, the programming space for Muslim students will move from Thomas House to the meditation space beneath the bookstore. Muslim women’s housing will also relocate in the fall to a Village (formerly Farr) Apartment. The change comes as a result of accessibility concerns about Thomas House, but some members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) are frustrated with what they consider to be a lack of administrative transparency throughout the moving process.

Thomas House, located at the north end of campus and formerly occupied by faculty, was designated as a programming space for Muslim students and a living space for Muslim women in September 2019. Just prior to receiving Thomas House, Muslim students had met with former College President Sean Decatur to express the need for a dedicated space for worship and community akin to the Rothenberg Hillel House and the Harcourt Parish House.

In fall 2025, Mia Miller ’29, a Muslim student and wheelchair user, found that she was unable to access Thomas House, which has stairs at every entry point. “I talked to MSA, and then we brought it up with [Student Accessibility and Support Services] and then also the Office of Civil Rights, and we met a couple of times under the impression that we would be able to make changes to Thomas House in order to make it accessible,” Miller shared with the Collegian. Yasha Zehra ’26, co-president of MSA and Student Council’s vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, explained that MSA representatives discussed moving programming (but not housing) to an accessible space in a meeting with Civil Rights/Title IX Deputy Coordinator Katie Sherman. Sherman was not available to comment for this article.

While not opposed to a change in programming space, Zehra and fellow MSA co-president Seryne Rafique ’26 pointed out that such a space would need to meet certain requirements to be used for religious purposes. These requirements include having a separate, carpeted prayer space that could be kept clean and free from shoes and a full kitchen to prepare halal food. 

After initial conversations surrounding an alternative programming space, Sherman emailed Miller on Jan. 27 to inform her that both the programming space and Muslim women’s housing would be moved for the start of the fall 2026 semester. Zehra, Rafique, the rest of the MSA leadership and the current residents of Thomas House were informed of the change not through an official administrative channel, but through Miller herself. “I found out through [Miller], because she forwarded the email to me,” Zehra said. “I’m on MSA and I’m a Thomas House resident, and I still didn’t know that change was made.” She continued, “There [was] really nothing we could do besides advocating for another space that meets our needs.” 

After a meeting with Senior Director of Presidential Operations Samantha Hughes, MSA was given the option to convert the meditation space into a home base for Muslim student programming. In an email to the Collegian, Hughes explained, “After exploring other options on campus, it became clear that the desired living and programming space would not be possible in one campus location as it was previously in Thomas House. … In considering what spaces meet the greatest number of needs, including accessibility, lower Farr Hall was the best option available at this time.” MSA agreed and elected to go with the meditation center, but, according to Zehra, it is far from an ideal solution: “It will have a prayer room, it has a sink and a microwave and a fridge, but it does not have a kitchen.” Hughes clarified that some small changes will be made to the space to better suit the MSA programming it will house in the fall: “Over the summer, some minor renovations will occur to fulfill nearly all of the needed attributes for a programming space. … The current programming occurring in lower Farr Hall — a sensory room managed by the Peer [Health] Educators, and a Buddhist prayer space [—] will move to the third floor of Peirce.”

Anusha Rao ’28, a current resident of Thomas House, expressed frustration with what she considered lackluster communication from the administration regarding the changes. “There was just a lot of uncertainty for a long time,” she said. “[Zehra] had told us what was going on, but we still had no official communication or guarantee at all from any members of the staff.”

Both Zehra and Rao stressed that they support moving the MSA programming space to a more accessible location. Miller concurred: “We’re all for moving the spaces to be accessible so that everybody will be able to access it, but I think what really needed to happen was that space needs to be able to meet our needs, and currently it doesn’t.” Miller also highlighted the fact that other religious organizations on campus have access to kitchens, a crucial piece of the equation for Muslim students who need to prepare halal food: “There’s [the] Parish House, and there’s [the] Hillel house, so being able to have the same amount of access as other faith groups on campus [is important].” 

College Chaplain Rachel Kessler ’04, who has been helping MSA advocate for a suitable programming space, expressed a commitment to continue searching for an adequate location in an email to the Collegian: “I know the College is working to find the best answer to a space for Muslim life that is both accessible and meets student needs. Chaplain [Marc] Bragin and I are both aware that a space does not yet exist and we are committed to continuing to advocate for a space that meets all the needs the Muslim community has expressed.”

As far as Thomas House’s future, Chief Operating Officer Roger Wakeman expressed that it could potentially become faculty housing once again: “I don’t want to make a final judgement on that right now. I would say that we are considering the need for faculty and staff housing as a priority, and so we are evaluating different facilities for that, but we also have additional facilities planning review going on right now to make final judgments.”

Summing up the situation, Miller acknowledged the proactive steps the College has taken to facilitate accessibility: “We’re really grateful for the College to be able to work with us to make sure we’re finding an accessible space. … I think that something that was done well was having urgency to the situation, so we’re not just left in a limbo.” She added, “I am glad that we’re going to be moving into an accessible location so that future students would be able to use that. We just wish that location also completely met the needs that we’re asking for.”