Article content

York University appears to be standing by its controversial decision to permit a student to be excused from a group project because the presence of women interfered with his “firm religious beliefs.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or York University standing by choice to excuse student from group work with women over religious beliefs Back to video

In a statement Thursday by provost Rhonda Lenton, the university affirmed its commitment to “gender equity, inclusivity and diversity,” but did not retract an October order authorizing the much-criticized “religious accommodation.”

The statement comes one day after York University sociology professor J. Paul Grayson went public with documents showing that university brass had backed a request from one of his students to be separated from female classmates for religious reasons.

“Seventy per cent of the students at York University are female,” Mr. Grayson told the National Post. “This kind of situation, from that point of view, is simply intolerable.”

The “unusual” request arose on Sept. 20, when a student in one of Mr. Grayson’s online courses asked to be exempted from a group project because he did not believe in “intermingling between men and women.”