Action Sought at Pace After Abuse of Koran
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Responding to the second desecration of a Koran in a men’s bathroom at Pace University within three weeks, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Pace’s Muslim Students Association yesterday called on the university and the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force to work swiftly to solve the crimes.
The groups also expressed concern over the safety of Muslim students and the rising tide of Islamophobia at Pace and in the city in general.
“Though we’re happy with the fact that this was recognized as a hate crime, we’re concerned that it has been repeated,” CAIR’s president, Omar Mohannedi, said.
A paperback copy of the Koran checked out from the library at Pace’s Lower Manhattan campus was discovered floating in a toilet in the men’s bathroom on September 21. Last Friday, another copy of the Koran was found in a toilet at the library. Also, racial slurs were scribbled on student vehicles at Pace’s Westchester campus earlier this month.
“This unfortunate incident underscores the apparent lack of dialogue and understanding within the Pace University student populace and the greater New York City community,” Mr. Mohannedi said, referring to the second Koran desecration.
“What we had hoped to be a rumor was in fact our worst nightmare,” a senior at Pace who is a MSA member, Faiza Ali, said. “For a place that we call our second home, we feel we are being threatened to a certain degree.Overall, there’s concern that there’s a level of hate increasing throughout our community. It’s not something that just pertains to Muslims,” she said.
The president of Pace, David Caputo, said the incidents went against the very foundation of the university. “This indicates a set of issues we need to deal with and gives us a moment to act when we have people’s attention. We are facing this squarely and in public,” Mr. Caputo said.The university has responded with a series of town hall meetings and sensitivity training, and plans to intensify its ongoing campaign to combat racial bias.
In 2005, CAIR received 153 reports of hate crimes nationally, which marked a 9% increase from the 141 incidents reported in 2004. Mr. Mohannedi called the increase “alarming” and expressed hope that New York would react with more hate crime legislation and law enforcement.
As for leads on who desecrated the Korans at Pace, an NYPD detective, Madelyne Galindo, said only that the investigation was active.
