The University of Toronto has officially redesignated the former Open Assembly Space in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology, a convenient ground-floor prayer room long used as a non-denominational option by engineering students, as a dedicated Muslim prayer space.

The February 13, 2026 announcement by the Multi-Faith Centre justifies the move by citing heavy usage by Muslim students and promises future upgrades like prayer mats, storage, and ablution stations with bidets. An ablution station is a washing facility where Muslims perform wudu, the ritual washing of hands, face, arms, head, and feet, required before their daily prayers.

Before the change was made official, Jewish students who depended on the space for daily prayers began facing barriers. The full carpeting made praying with shoes on, standard for many Jews, feel impossible without either breaking religious custom or feeling like they were desecrating the room.

Anti-Israel propaganda flyers turned up in the space that should have been a neutral place of worship. Loud group prayers also disrupted individuals trying to complete their own observances. Then the prayer room was fully converted to a Muslim-only prayer space in February with the Multi-Faith Centre citing that the Bahen prayer room was hardly used until the Muslim Students Association decided to “invest” in it by making the mentioned changes.

When I contacted U of T Media Relations, they responded with a classic deflection. They pointed to the original announcement and provided a list of other worship spaces across campuses, including the St. George Campus Jewish Centre and various Christian options. They offered no explanation for why a previously shared, centrally located room was converted rather than kept multi-faith. It was the standard institutional response: there are other spaces, go use those.

EMAIL THE UNIVERSITY SAYING YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

This is not genuine accommodation; it is demographic surrender to the majority, disguised as inclusivity.

The university is bending over backwards to formalize and upgrade a dominant group’s preferred space while telling other students to consult a campus map. Non-Muslim students at U of T deserve better than second-class treatment and to feel targeted in a place of prayer. By prioritizing one community’s needs and deflecting legitimate complaints, the University of Toronto is sending a clear message about whose belonging actually counts on campus.

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