Rice to host panel discussion Sept. 15 on Islam, stereotypes surrounding the religion

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Rice to host panel discussion Sept. 15 on Islam, stereotypes surrounding the religion

HOUSTON – (Aug. 31, 2016) – Islam and stereotypes surrounding the religion will be the focus of “Islam and Public Life: Addressing Stigmas and Stereotypes,” a panel discussion to be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 in Herring Hall, Room 100, on the campus of Rice University.

The event will focus on recent attention on Islam in the news, stereotypes surrounding Muslim women, American-Muslims in U.S. politics and more. The event will feature a panel discussion with commentary by Craig Considine, a sociology lecturer at Rice; Wazir Ali, a Houston-area imam; and Hasna Maznavi, founder and president of the Women’s Mosque of America in Los Angeles.

“We at the Religion and Public Life Program have been shocked by what is happening in the public arena — the blaming, generalizing and stigmatizing — and so we are hoping to bring something positive with this public conversation,” said Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of Rice’s Religion and Public Life Program, which is sponsoring the event.

WHAT: “Islam and Public Life: Addressing Stigmas and Stereotypes.”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15.

WHERE: Herring Hall, Room 100, Rice University, 6100 Main St.

The panel is also supported by Rice’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance and is free and open to the public. To RSVP, visit https://islamandpubliclife.eventbrite.com.

Media who wish to attend the event may RSVP to David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

For a map of Rice University’s campus, go to www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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Related materials:

Religion and Public Life Program website: https://rplp.rice.edu/

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.