Brooklyn Tech Won't Reschedule Prom That Conflicts With Ramadan

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn Tech students who petitioned to reschedule the high school's prom so that it wouldn't conflict with Ramadan were unable to do so.

More than 240 people have signed a Change.org petition to demand the Brooklyn Tech prom date be changed from June 3 so that Muslim students observing the fast might be able to attend.

“With Tech's Muslim population being so vast, it is clear the scheduled date will heavily affect the attendance of this significant event of our high school experience,” it said in the petition.

“If no action is taken, Senior Prom truly wouldn't be open to every senior who wants to go.”

The annual month-long celebration of Ramadan is scheduled to begin on Friday, May 26 and will require observers to fast from sunrise to sunset.

But the white-glove prom at Chelsea Piers is slated to begin on June 3rd at 7 p.m., about an hour and a half before the Ramadan fast can be broken.

The petition, which had garnered 242 signatures as of May 23, rallied support from both practicing Muslims and non-Muslim students yet the prom date remained unchanged.

Brooklyn Tech representatives told the New York Post, which first reported the story, that they were unaware of the petition, but in response would not to serve food at prom before it was time to break the fast.

Image via Kathleen Culliton