French Muslim Student Sent Home because Her Skirt was Too Long

A school in France has stirred international outrage by sending home a Muslim student because her skirt was too long.

The New York Times reports that the incident took place at the Leo Lagrange school in the French town of Charleville-Mezieres. The principal of the school deemed the 15-year-old Muslim student's long skirt as an "ostentatious" display of her religious identity. A 2004 law makes it illegal for students in French elementary and high schools to wear symbols of their faith.

For example, Jews cannot wear skullcaps, and Christians cannot wear crosses, and Muslims cannot wear headscarves. As a skirt is not an overtly religious symbol, the decision to send the girl home has caused widespread consternation.

A group dedicated to battling Islamophobia says that sending home students for wearing clothing that is not clearly religious in nature has increased throughout France. Since Jan. 2014, the group has identified 130 other cases like that at Leo Lagrange. The group has now begun to lobby the ministry of education to provide clear guidelines on how the 2004 law should be enforced.

The director of education for the region that includes Leo Lagrange said that schools under his jurisdiction had sent home a number of other Muslim girls for similar reasons but that it wasn't an issue.

The uproar may have been due to the fact that a letter the principal sent home with the student seemed to imply that the student would be expelled if she showed up to school in similar attire again.

The issue is sure to alienate French Muslims, who are already marginalized in French society. Many live in poverty in large housing projects scattered throughout the suburbs of French cities.