Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team

I call a foul

All that University of South Florida NCAA basketball player Andrea Armstrong wanted to do was to continue playing award-winning women’s basketball, albeit with the headscarf she had decided to start wearing as a symbol of her new faith. She didn’t expect the media hurricane that followed, or the caustic comments from media personalities in the wake of the third anniversary of 9/11. “Go back to your homeland,” snorted Chicago radio personality Mike North, apparently unaware that Andrea’s homeland is the state of Oregon. Others wondered whether Muslim footballers would be offended carrying the pigskin, and likened Muslim garb on athletes as akin to advertising. Her request to USF officials to wear the scarf during game play resulted in an NCAA ruling allowing her an exemption to uniform rules. However, after re-joining the team (which supported her decision to play with the scarf on), hostility from campus members and anonymous e-mailers forced her to quit again. “[The scarf issue] is dividing my team, school and community,” said Armstrong, 22. Even though she has now left the team that she co-captained last year, she still faces the loss of her basketball scholarship and will probably miss the last year of her NCAA eligibility. “I just want to play,” said Armstrong, who has been ranked in the top 100 women’s basketball players in the US. “I’ve been doing this since third grade. This is my life.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.