Deliberate destructiveness in New York Muslim prayer room investigated as hate crime
A prayer room used by NYU Muslim students was said by NYU officials and members of the Muslim community that NYU Muslim students were attacked by vandals who etched and painted graffiti on the walls and soaked the Islamic prayer pads in their urine.
Dirty mats and other vandalism were found Thursday afternoon in a worship space inside the Bobs Library, the towering red building opposite Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.
Images of male genitals are drawn to the walls of the room, as well as the letter “AEPI”, the nickname for the Alpha Epsilon Pi, a national Jewish fraternity that hung from NYU in 2015 for deception.
New York University said it has reported vandalism to police and will conduct its own investigation to find and punish vandals. Those deemed responsible will “get the most serious sanctions through our disciplinary process,” the university said.
“This blasphemy against religious space is evil, condemned and totally unacceptable,” the university said in a statement Thursday. “It violates every principle of our community and we condemn it.”
Jonathan Pierce, spokesman for the National Organization of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said it “strongly condemned” the intended vandalism and “come fully with the government’s investigation.”
“We don't know that any of our members were involved in this disrespectful action,” he said. “Hopefully the investigation will find the perpetrators and when they are found, we hope they are properly punished by the university.”
Concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Semitism on university campuses including NYU have been intensified since the war in Gallon began in October 2023, and this vandalism has attracted attention. Campus conflict has led to the departure of several university presidents and has driven policy changes since taking office again in January.
The Trump administration has detained international students — many of them Muslims — for participating in the war on campus protests or criticism of the Israeli government.
The government also revoked federal funding from universities including Columbia and Pennsylvania, which accused it of doing too little to combat anti-Semitism or transgender women’s participation in college sports.
A student discovered vandalism Thursday afternoon and rushed to his office to tell him what she saw, said Faiyaz Jaffer, a Muslim pastor at New York University. He said he later informed campus safety and university administrators.
“She was naturally in a state of shock, and I think I was shocked, too,” Dr. Jaffer said. “And I realized we were used to it. We were hearing things like this all the time, but it was upset because of the gap between law enforcement and Muslims since 9/11, or because of people's distrust of the authorities.”
Dr. Jaffer calls Campus Safety. The spoiler's words quickly spread on social media and on WhatsApp.
Safiatu Diagana, 25, a nursing and public health student in Queens, said the incident left many students feeling hurt and confused. She said she was happy to hear the university say it planned to investigate vandalism, but wanted to see the results.
“Many of us want to know why – why does this have to happen?” Ms. Diagana said. “We should feel safe on campus, and it can happen here, which is very painful and terrible.”
A police spokesman said the vandalism appeared to involve graffiti carved on the wall and written on it in chalk. A spokesman said the department's hate crime task force has been notified and an investigation is underway.
AFAF Nasher, chairman of the New York chapter of the Council on Islamic Relations, said the group hopes state and federal law enforcement will open up hate crime investigations into the matter.
“This blasphemy evil act is a direct attack on the Muslim community in NYU and elsewhere,” she said. “It's unsettling to have any student walk into their prayer space (a sacred space) and just find it defiled.”
The university’s Islamic center provides services and support for Muslim students, and he said the vandalism is particularly disturbing, so close to Ramadan that ended last weekend. Center officials said in a statement that the incident was part of a larger wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.
“This incident is not isolated,” the statement said. “Many people in our Muslim community have experienced growing Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric in recent years. What happens in our prayer space reflects wider discrimination and challenges Muslims face nationwide.”
