This case is fictional, but it is inspired by similar events that occurred on a university campus in Canada in 2014. The opinions presented here represent the viewpoints of an individual student and should not be considered reflective of Muslim males or Muslim immigrants in general.
Amy Liu was profoundly confused about how best to support the equality rights of her students. Amy was an instructor teaching an introductory class in organizational behaviour. A group presentation and associated group paper was an important component of the course. Together the presentation and paper were worth 30 percent of the course grade.
Amy randomly assigned students to groups at the beginning of the semester, because it forced students to work with people who were unfamiliar and different from themselves. The student population at her institution was very diverse—random group assignment practically guaranteed that each group would be a mix of ethnicities, gender and sexual orientations, and cultures. Because diversity management and cross-cultural communication were components of her course, Amy considered these mixed groups to be excellent practice for applying skills learned in class. She was accustomed to mentoring groups that were struggling; in fact she considered those discussions to be key tools to help illustrate important course concepts such as effective conflict resolution.
But Amy had never encountered a group problem quite like this.
When Amy randomly assigned groups this term, one of her groups consisted of four women from various backgrounds and one man. Most of the women were in their late teens, but one was a mature student in her 40s. The other member was a 23-year-old Muslim man who had recently immigrated to Canada from Pakistan. He had been raised in a particularly traditional household by very conservative parents. While many other Pakistani Muslim students had no problems being in a mixed group, he felt that it was profoundly inappropriate to have close contact with females who were not related to him. He had respectfully requested that he be reassigned to a group consisting of male students only, or permitted to complete a presentation and project alone.
The university did encourage accommodation of religious needs. They had, for example, set up a prayer room in several of the main campus buildings so that Muslim students could attend to their daily prayers.
They had also built conference facilities with ventilation systems for First Nations smudging ceremonies and they sold kosher and halal food in all cafeterias. The university also prioritized gender equality. Amy did not see how she could accommodate the male student’s request while also maintaining gender equity for female students. She agonized over what to do for a couple of days.
Discussion Questions 

1. What should Amy Liu do?
2. What types of resources could and should be used to help make good decisions in ambiguous situations like this?
3. What diversity management policies and procedures could help decision makers to make fair and defensible decisions when rights seem to be in conflict with each other?