For many years Mustafa Abdul-Hamid has followed the fasting tradition of the Islam religion during Ramadan, but this year he won’t be able to do it.

Ramadan, which began on Sept. 13, signaled the start of the fasting period. But this year, to some students it will signal the reality that religious steadfastness can be sacrificed for practicality and other commitments.

In a public university environment where college services may not be complementary to religious practice, observing the holiday can be handicapping.

“It’s as though I’m giving up an arm and a leg to fast because the bustling UCLA environment and long class schedules have really taken a toll on me,” said Tabasum Habib, a third-year sociology student who transferred this year and is new to the UCLA community, but not new to fasting.

Abdul-Hamid, a freshman on the men’s basketball team, also shared how difficult he thinks the task is.

“I’m still going to do the readings (for Ramadan) and everything else, but between practice workouts and dorm cafeteria times, I just don’t see how it’s possible,” Abdul-Hamid said in a brief phone interview.

Accessibility to food on campus seems to be a shared concern among students observing Ramadan.

Insiyah Nomanbhoy, a second-year international development student, said she wakes up early and eats the oatmeal she keeps in her dorm room since the dorm cafeteria is not open early enough.

The fasting time begins an hour before sunrise, usually around 5:30 a.m., and ends at sunset, usually around 6:30 p.m.

Suzanne Seplow, director of the Office of Residential Life, said the dining hours begin as early as 7 a.m. and stay open as late as 2 a.m.

And while the breakfast time is not early enough, students still have time to have dinner and digest the day’s hardships over fasting.

But the issue of firm piety to a religion regardless of an environmental change is not limited to those practicing Islam.

The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, in which Jews abstain from eating, drinking or performing any type of work for 24 hours, fell on Monday, which was problematic for many students wishing to observe the holiday.

Brian Rubinstein, a redshirt junior on the football team, said he did not have football practice on Monday so “things sort of worked out” for him.

“Even if we did have practice, it wouldn’t be a huge issue for me to miss practice. (The coach) knows I observe the high holidays since its my fourth year (with the team),” Rubinstein said. “(Our coach) is extremely understanding, unlike high school.”

But scheduling of religious holidays does not always fall conveniently on days free of other commitments.

Rubinstein recalls the recent Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, when an away football game was scheduled. The away game would mean he had to travel during the holiday, which is forbidden.

He said his decision to travel and play in the game was not without hesitation.

“It took a long time to decide whether I was going to make the trip. It came after talking to my parents and my rabbi at home, we decided that Rosh Hashanah is not as big of a deal as Yom Kippur so I went along with the team, but also attended services at the local temple when we got there,” Rubinstein said.

UCLA has come a long way toward religious sensitivity in the last several years, said Scott Bartchy, director of the Center for the Study of Religion.

“It is the case that the UC system has done quite a bit to adjust the schedule to be as favorable as possible; this didn’t use to be the case,” Bartchy said.

But even with common day adjustments, Bartchy said there shouldn’t be expectations of the university to make excessive excuses for students wishing to observe religious practices.

“I cannot imagine anyone who is a Muslim or Jewish athlete and not be involved in any sort of travel on the Sabbath day or be limited with the food choices on holidays. These students are given a lot of favorable benefits and breaks going in, but in return, there are expectations of them,” Bartchy said in regard to the idea that exceptions be made for student-athletes that wish to observe religious holidays conflicting with a sport schedule.

“There is just so much expected of (student-athletes). Now, whether it is right for a university to have such expectations is another issue,” Bartchy added.