From Above The Law
by Staci Zaretsky
From earthquakes to power outages to going into labor, we’ve written about almost every kind of bar exam horror story that exists on this earth. But we’ve never seen or heard of one that has been motivated by alleged religious bias — until today.
Everyone knows that things like hats, hoods, scarves, and visors are not allowed to be worn during the bar exam. But religious headgear, like Sikh dastars and Jewish yarmulkes, is permitted, as long as special written approval has been obtained before the test from a state’s board of bar examiners.
When there’s a miscommunication somewhere along the line, things don’t always go as planned. Yesterday, a proctor in Massachusetts passed a distasteful note to a Michigan Law graduate of Muslim faith during the morning essay session. We have a copy of that note…
It seems that this bar examinee was wearing a hijab, a scarf meant to cover the head and chest, and she had received prior permission from the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners to wear it for religious reasons. Nevertheless, a proctor interrupted her with this note while she was taking the exam:
“Headwear may not be worn during the examination without prior written approval.” But the woman in question reports that she had received such approval (as of Monday).
The young woman took the exam at the Western New England University School of Law. We have absolutely no idea why this proctor couldn’t wait to bring up the issue until after the morning session was completed. To interrupt a test taker during the bar exam with a religious issue — one that she thought was already taken care of, and one that was sure to make her even more anxious than she already was — is not only insulting, but cruel. We suppose the term “Masshole” exists for a reason.
