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CAIR bulletin – Oct. 10, 2006
Pace University Quran desecration
recognized as hate crime
NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 10, 2006 - The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) has been informed that the recent desecration of a Quran at Pace University was recognized as a hate crime.
On September 20, a copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at the Pace library bathroom. Initially, Pace University Administration called the desecration vandalism, but with the collaborative efforts of CAIR-NY, the Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL), the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau, and the Muslim Students Association at Pace, university administrators now view the incident as bias-related.
In a statement, CAIR-NY said: "CAIR-NY extends its appreciation to Inspector Joseph Cassidy, Community Coordinator Erhan Yildirim of the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau and Officer Ahmed Nasr for their positive involvement, which brought to light the gravity of the situation. Additionally, the investigation of the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force was integral in the reclassification of this crime."
Inside Higher Editorial – Oct. 5, 2006
NY: When ugliness visits a campus
Every once in awhile on university campuses, the unthinkable, even the unutterable, happens. A scrawled message shows up on a bathroom stall, a religious symbol is defaced - and administrators and faculty members are left to try to contain the fallout and forestall another explosion.
Pace University, in New York, has been plagued by a series of three racially charged incidents, beginning with the discovery of a library-owned copy of a Koran in a toilet on its main campus in Manhattan September 20. Just four days later, a car parked at Pace's location in the suburb of Briarcliff, N.Y. was found strewn with litter, the word "nigger" written in the condensation on the windshield, and, on September 29, the same racial epithet and a swastika were found scribbled on a bathroom stall door at the Manhattan campus. No suspects have been identified, although campus officials are operating under the assumption that the perpetrators are insiders, students or employees with access to the buildings.
"This is a major concern for us. Our concern is that we are a very diverse community; we have been a very inclusive community, in terms of welcoming individuals from all faiths, all backgrounds, all religions and so forth," said Pace's president, David A. Caputo. "This seems to all of us to be an attack on that." . . .
In September, the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, reported 1,972 incidents of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2005 - up 29 percent from 2004. The proportion of the total reported incidents occurring at elementary and secondary schools and universities - the group does not categorize incidents under "higher education" - increased from 6 percent in 2004 to 8 percent in 2005, Afsheen Shamsi, community liaison coordinator for CAIR, said….
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/05/pace
New York Daily News – Oct. 4, 2006
NY: Koran in toilet: 3rd pace bias shocker
By Kerry Burke and Adam Nichols
A paperback copy of the Koran was tossed into a toilet on the lower Manhattan campus of Pace University - the latest in a spate of bias incidents upsetting students and administrators at the college, officials said yesterday.
The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the vandalism of the Koran, and the university's private security also is probing the incident, sources said.
"A Koran thrown into the toilet? I am hurt, not just as a Muslim but as a human being," said Zeina Berjaoui, 20, president of Pace's Muslim Student Association.
In the past two weeks, vandals also scrawled a swastika and .anti-black slurs on the same bathroom wall at Pace's campus near City Hall. Someone also sprayed the N-word onto a car parked at the school's Westchester County campus, cops and university sources said.
"One of our university's greatest strengths is its diversity," Pace President David Caputo wrote in a letter describing the incidents. "When speech is hurtful towards a class of people or incites violence, we must condemn it and take measures to stop it."
The copy of the Koran had been taken from the university .library before being defaced Sept. 21. It turned up in the toilet approximately two weeks ago. Today, cops will quiz the student who last withdrew the book, police sources said…..
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/458362p-385542c.html
WABC – Oct. 3, 2006
NY: Messages of hate discovered at pace university
In one case, a copy of the Koran was thrown in the toilet
By Lucy Yang
Officials at Pace University are investigating three separate incidents of vandalism. In each case the vandalism was laced with religious or racial overtones.
Pace University may be a diverse college but there are some who are lashing out at its ethnic makeup:
Two weeks ago, someone threw a Koran from the library into the toilet.
Several days later, there were anti-black slurs smeared against a student's car.
And on Friday, more racial remarks in the men's room as well as a swastika scrawled on the wall.
Douglas Whiting, Pace University Public Relations: "I think the assumption going into the investigation that it's a member of the community, which makes it even more disturbing."
The university invited the student body to a town meeting on Tuesday night where they announced there are three separate investigations now underway. . .
Right now, campus police are investigating the cases, not the police. The cases are not being considered hate crimes….
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4625757
NY1 – Oct. 4, 2006
NY: Pace University investigates
vandalism at two campuses
Three acts of vandalism of racial or religious nature over the last two weeks are prompting an investigation at Pace University.
Over the past two weeks, racial slurs have been found on a bathroom wall inside the school's Downtown campus and on a student's car at the Westchester County campus. Most recently a copy of the Quran ended up in one of the school's toilets at the Downtown campus.
Some students are complaining that the school has under-reacted.
"We're upset because we know when a hate crime occurs proper protocols need to be taken. Reports need to be filed; investigation needs to occur; the police need to be notified. All of which have not happened," said Zeina Berjaoul of the Muslim Students Association.
"The fact that we communicated so early and as aggressively as we did should indicate to them that we are taking this seriously and want to move this forward," said Pace University Vice President Douglas Whiting.
As of now, university officials say they are classifying the cases as vandalism, because they don't meet the legal definition of a hate crime.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=63151
International Herald Tribune – Oct. 17, 2006
2nd Quran found in toilet at New York City University
Another copy of the Islamic holy book has been found in a toilet at a university library, a civil liberties group said.
The discovery of the Quran in a toilet at Pace University's lower Manhattan campus on Friday was the latest in a series of recent acts of vandalism tinged with racial or religious overtones at the school, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil liberties group, said Tuesday.
"We once again call on Pace University to take concrete measures to help educate the student population about Islamophobic bigotry and its negative impact on ordinary Muslims and on American society," Maryam Sayar Akbar, the group's civil rights director, said in a statement.
In September, a copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at Pace, and in October someone scrawled racial slurs on a student's car at the Westchester County satellite campus and on a bathroom wall at the campus in lower Manhattan.
University officials, who have said they are investigating the incidents, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Tuesday.
University President David A. Caputo has said the incidents did not appear to be related. But he has called them "deeply disturbing" and has held a meeting with faculty and students…..
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/18/america/NA_GEN_US_Vandalism_Quran.php
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