Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya Vandals toppled a pillar and overturned the prayer rug in the Muslim prayer room over the weekend.

Georgetown’s Muslim prayer room was vandalized over the weekend, rekindling controversy about religious tolerance on Georgetown’s campus.

The room, located in the basement of the Copley building, is generally left unlocked, according to Muslim Student Association President Owas Balti (MSB ’02).

Balti said between midnight Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday, one of the room’s two large pillars was placed on the ground and that the room’s prayer rug, which faces the city of Mecca, was moved and overturned. He added that the damage to the room was more religiously significant than anything else.

Director of Public Safety William Tucker confirmed last night that there are no suspects in the incident.

Last year, the Jewish Student Association’s menorah was vandalized twice during Hanukkah, prompting one student to leave the university in connection to the second incident. The first incident remains unsolved.

Balti said the pillars, which did not sustain any damage, were given to the MSA years ago. He said that due to the weight of the pillar, it would have been difficult for one person to have placed it on the floor.

Balti said the MSA asks all who enter the room to remove their shoes to keep the prayer rug clean because Muslims touch their faces to it when they pray. He said he doubted that the vandal would have taken his or her shoes off before entering the room.

In a joint statement released by Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez and Director of Campus Ministry Rev. Adam E. Bunnell, OFM Conv., they stated, “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.”

Balti said he would hesitate to classify the incident as a hate crime.

“It seems like something people would do for fun,” he said.

Last night, Director of Campus Ministry Rev. Adam E. Bunnell, OMF Conv., and Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez held a meeting for concerned students and said that the university is prepared to deal with the incident.

“We know that you don’t consider this a slight issue and neither do we,” Gonzalez said.

The Georgetown Unity Coalition, an organization aimed at ending on-campus hate and violence, also announced it would sponsor a rally today in Red Square at 9:30 p.m. to promote religious tolerance on campus.

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.

According to Balti, there are “several hundred” uslim students at Georgetown who periodically visit the prayer room, and somewhere between 100 and 150 active members of MSA.

“Its very disrespectful,” Balti said of the incident. “All students should be respected for their beliefs.”