Islam and Its Culture Focus of Student Presentation at Highlands College

Highlands College is continuing its “Passport To …. Program” with a student luncheon speaker whose topic will be Islam and its culture. The event, sponsored by the Highlands College Student Leadership Team, is scheduled for Wednesday, February 24th from 12:00-1:00 in the Highlands College Commons. Pizza will be served to those students, faculty and staff who attend the presentation.

Previous “Passport To … Programs” at Highlands College have featured presentations by students from Brazil, Serbia, Nigeria and Australia.

Scheduled to speak at the Passport To… Islam and Its Culture event is international student and Biology major, Wejdan Al Obaydan from Saudi Arabia. She will speak about her Islamic religion and the Muslim culture.

“It feels to me as if there has been a lot of misunderstanding about the Islamic religion generally and Muslims specifically,” said Dr. John M. Garic, Dean of Highlands College. “It also seems to me that these misunderstandings have sometimes led to the broad brush of discrimination of all Muslims, often targeting them or blaming them for the violent acts of the very few. Our Passport to Islam and Its Culture Program is intended to further our college’s mission to educate our students so that they might have a broader understanding of the world, and, thereby be better citizens.”

Islam is the religious faith, based on the words and religious system founded by the prophet Muhammad and taught by the Koran. According to various sources, with about 1.6 billion followers or 23% of the global population, Islam is the second-largest religion by number of adherents.

In scheduling this Passport To… Islam and Its Culture event, Dr. Garic was inspired by President Obama, who visited an Islamic mosque recently, and who noted: “(M)any (Americans) only hear about Muslims and Islam from the news after an act of terrorism, or in distorted media portrayals in TV or film, all of which gives this hugely distorted impression.” For any further information about this issue or any issue pertaining to Montana Tech or Highlands College, please contact Amanda Badovinac at 406-496-4828 or Dr. John M. Garic at 406-496-3714.