By Hannah Furfaro Seattle Times staff reporter
(SEATTLE TIMES) Downstairs in the University of Washington’s law library, student Malak Shalabi often found herself walking by class photos from years past. In the school’s early days, virtually every face staring back was white. Most were men.
“There aren’t many Muslim people. Period,” said Shalabi, 23. And, “throughout the years, I (didn’t) see a single (law school) graduate who was wearing a hijab. That’s kind of when it clicked for me.”
On Sunday, Shalabi is to expected be among about 170 students in the University of Washington School of Law’s 2021 graduating class — and among the first to wear a hijab during the law school graduation ceremony.
She may be the very first. It’s hard to say for certain — the class photos are usually taken when students enter the program and may leave out transfer students, school officials said. But after flipping through every class photo, Shalabi contacted past graduates via social media and asked the law school librarian and school administrators if they knew of any other Muslim graduates who wore a hijab. At least one student wore a headscarf, someone said, but they couldn’t remember if she wore it at graduation.
On why being among the “first” matters, Shalabi says: “No one should be discouraged because they don’t see a space for them in a particular field.”