The paper is based on ethnography conducted on the campus of a major university, which has a reputation of being "the most liberal" hub of higher education in Istanbul. On the basis of three field trips (ethnographic fieldwork, 34 informal interviews and four group discussions), I explore and analyze the university campus as a major urban site of political contestation over Muslim politics. The ethnography illustrates the interplay between non-state actors (faculty, students and administration) and the state's shifting attitudes towards Islamic symbols on university campuses, including but not limited to the headscarf ban. I argue that the campus mediates highly contested issues of Muslim politics in a secular state by containing diluting and sometimes reinforcing contestation and bargaining between polarized groups of citizens. As a prospective chapter in a larger book manuscript, the broader goal of this paper is to bridge two fields, urban and political studies, which have traditionally talked past each other. Along these lines, I aim at exploring a) how ordinary people negotiate with their states by utilizing urban sites, and b) how urban space and political institutions are mapped upon each other in the long and challenging process of democratization in the Middle East.