Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya Students gathered Tuesday night to call for an end to intolerance on campus.

The Unity Coalition sponsored a vigil Tuesday night to show support for the Muslim community in the wake of the recent vandalization of their on-campus prayer room.

Diverse groups gathered in Red Square to listen to campus chaplains, faculty and students offer prayers and speak out against intolerance.

Located in the basement of the Copley building, the Muslim prayer room was broken into last Saturday. One of the room’s two large pillars was placed on the ground and the room’s prayer rug, which faces the city of Mecca, was moved and overturned. Director of Public Safety William Tucker said Monday there were no suspects in the case.

In a joint statement, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez and Director of Campus Ministry Rev. Adam E. Bunnell, OFM Conv. said, “on behalf of the entire university administration, we say plainly and simply that this disrespectful act is unacceptable and is completely counter to our core values of diversity, inclusion, respect and understanding.”

MSA officials said the vandalism of the prayer room has re-opened wounds from last year’s vandalization of two menorahs.

“We need to come to a point where we say, `no more,'” GUSA President Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) said during the the open-mike segment of the vigil. He said he was embarrassed such an act could occur at Georgetown, a university that prides itself on diversity.

Muslim chaplain Imam Yahya Hendi said this vandalization was a serious event because it reflects badly on all of Georgetown University.

“We are here not to care for Muslims, but to care for Georgetown,” Hendi said.

Hendi said he hoped Georgetown would continue to be a place of tolerance because he wanted his daughter to be able to come here in 15 years.

The Rev. Pat Conroy, S.J., asked the crowd to pray for the vandal who must be suffering to order to manifest such “an investment of negative energy.”

Other speakers included Rabbi Harold White, Jewish Student Association President and Vice-President Ory Abramowitz and Sarah Goldstein, President of Muslim Student Association Owais Balti and various other chaplains and students.

Hendi closed the speech by calling on the Georgetown community to strive toward peace and unity. He asked the crowd to hold hands and repeat with him the words, “We shall overcome. Balti said he hopes that the university will learn from this event.

“I don’t want anyone to feel afraid,” Balti said.

Hendi said overall he was very pleased with attendance.

Last December, vandals damaged the Jewish Student Association’s menorah in Red Square on the first night of Hanukkah. University President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J. issued a statement, calling it a “deplorable act of intolerance.”

Much like Monday’s meeting, university officials also held a meeting last December where students brought up many issues and asked questions ranging from the need for more security at the menorah to the need for a seminar during New Student Orientation regarding diversity. Some students expressed anger that the administration did not react strongly enough previous incidents and that they were still not doing enough about it.

Even though the vandalization of the menorah was the second instance of such vandalism, members of JSA were reluctant to consider this an act of religious intolerance.

Following the menorah vandalization and several racist and anti-gay incidents on campus last year, leaders from various minority advocacy groups including the JSA, the NAACP, MeCha, GU Pride and the Black Student Alliance formed the Georgetown Unity Coalition in an effort to promote awareness on campus. Throughout the course of the year, the coalition pushed for changes that were implemented in the university’s code of conduct that increased the punishment for incidents classified as hate crimes.