The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today publicly called on Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County to immediately reverse the removal form classroom imposed on a number of Thomas Jefferson Muslim Student Association members based on “racist tropes and stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs.”
CAIR alleges the students were removed from the classroom over a video skit encouraging Muslim students to attend MSA events prior to an investigation because of their national identities, religion, and speech. If true, this violates both federal anti-discrimination law and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
Many students and other student groups, including a Christian student group, have been filming similar skits yet have not faced punishment.
CAIR’s legal staff have already contacted the school.
In a letter to the school, CAIR Legal staff wrote the following:
“On Friday, October 24th, the TJHSST MSA shared a video on its official Instagram page promoting an event with a skit. The skit is playful, and the students in the video—all MSA members—can be seen smiling and chuckling throughout. Many of the students are wearing Palestine themed clothing, keffiyehs, and hijabs. At the end, two students gleefully put their thumbs up with the caption ‘No one was harmed in the making of this video.’ The video mirrors a popular trend of students promoting their events on campuses across the country. It is apparent that any threat TJSHHT perceives from the video comes from racist tropes and stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs.”
Earlier this year, CAIR released its 2025 Civil Rights Report “Unconstitutional Crackdowns,” which reveals that Islamophobia continues to be at an all-time high across the country. CAIR said viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.
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CONTACT: CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com