U.S. Army Cadet Command officials say a complaint by an advocacy group on behalf of a Ravenwood High School student has sparked a review of regulations spelling out what kinds of religious wear students may wear in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Programme. The review comes in the wake of a bias claim by the Council of American-Islamic Relations that a local JROTC programme was discriminatory when it didn’t allow a high school freshman to wear her headscarf to march in a homecoming parade.
JROTC regulations are consistent with U.S Army regulations, which allow religious headwear, but it must be completely covered by military headgear, a difficulty for Ravenwood High School freshman Demin Zawity, who wears a headscarf, which covers her hair and neck, in observance of her Muslim faith. “It turns out that a full headscarf would be inconsistent with an outdoor ceremony. She was not willing to compromise, which is to her credit,” said Lt. Col. Matt Hackathorn, a spokesman for cadet command at Ft. Knox, Ky. “We are looking at our current policies. We don’t want to be seen as discriminatory. It’s not a military program but a citizenship programme.”