When Muslim students arrived at Kay Spiritual Center for sunset prayer on Sept. 11, they found shattered glass and a torn Koran. It is speculated that at some point during the day, a person entered the Muslim prayer room in the lower level of Kay and smashed a picture of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and tore the cover and binding of a copy of the Koran.
The vandalism was reported to Public Safety at 7:40 p.m. Public Safety found no hateful messages written, but because the incident occurred on the third anniversary of Sept. 11, it speculates this was intentionally aimed at the Muslim community.
"I think that it's a natural assumption, that it's related to the fact that it's on the anniversary of Sept. 11, but the nature of the incident was property damage," said Gary Folkemer, coordinator for Public Safety Administration. "It was absent any indicators of bias."
Folkemer estimates the damage to be less than $200, but the nature of the incident is more important to many members of the AU community than the price tag.
"It's not a physical cost, it is more than that," said the AU Muslim Chaplain, Tarek Abou-Ghazala.
Sarah Ahmed, president of the Muslim Student Association, believes the attack is not characteristic of AU.
"As a community we've always felt AU has been very tolerant, very liberal towards every walk of life," said Ahmed.
Ahmed does not believe the vandalism was exclusively the result of the third anniversary of Sept.11, but she feels it is a strong possibility.
"It's a sensitive time we all need to be aware of, and some people have very sensitive feelings and unfortunately act out negatively, not positively," she said.
Both Ahmed and University Chaplain Joe Eldridge called the support of the AU community "overwhelming."
"There has been great consternation and dismay, and hope that this may become a time of reflection and a learning opportunity," said Eldridge.
Eldridge believes the date stirred the vandal's emotions, and he acted out of sudden anger. He said it shows the nation still has not moved on a path toward forgiveness.
"We have to hold the perpetrator in our hearts," said Eldridge. "We need to pray that the conscience of the person responsible for these deeds is stirred to the point of penitence or remorse."
Eldridge also doubts that an AU student did the vandalism. He says the panda exhibit has brought a lot of outside traffic to campus, and one of the visitors could have wandered into the prayer room.
Public Safety will be increasing patrols around the Kay Spiritual Life Center. They hope to make students feel safer, and get some leads.
"When people see us around more often, it may make people think of something they didn't think of at the time, but in hindsight maybe it's something we can check out," said Folkemer.
Eldridge said the Muslim community will decide whether the prayer room will begin to be locked during the day or not. He said no new security measures are planned for Kay.
Eldridge says the hallmark of Kay is it's open hospitality, and he wants to preserve that.
"We are open for pilgrims who want to come in and pray to Allah," said Eldridge. "It'd be a shame if it was secured to some point where it wouldn't be open to all persons seeking that time to pray."
Ahmed said the Muslim community feels the vandalism was an isolated incident, and they will not be focusing on it.
"I mean it happened, and it was it's not like we're going to go out and direct anger at anyone," Ahmed said. "The bottom line is whoever did this had their own reasons for doing so, probably acting out of their own frustration, given the significance of Sept. 11"
