(SAN DIEGO, CA, 10/3/22) – The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) today called for an incident in which a person allegedly threw a beverage at a group of graduate students in the Student Union at San Diego State University to be investigated as a possible hate crime.
The group was reportedly sitting around a table and speaking with their advisor over Zoom and were unaware of the person circling them. The alleged perpetrator threw a soda at the group, drenching the five of them, their backpacks and their laptops. Then he turned around and walked away. One of the students who was covered in soda got her phone and followed this man as he walked away. When she got close to him, he turned around and threatened to kill her if she did not back away. The student is reportedly fearful of going back to school and is taking some time to regroup and rethink her safety on campus.
After the incident, two of the students drenched in soda went to campus police and filed a report while the other three went on to their next class. Campus police took the details as a reported assault but failed to take notice of the hate crime aspect of the situation as one of the students wears an Islamic head scarf, or hijab.
The school administration has reached out to the students and offered counseling and time off to heal. They did issue a campus statement condemning the attack and posting a picture of the perpetrator on campus. The allegations are of an assault but not of a hate crime.
SEE: Police Probe Anti-Muslim Incident at San Diego State University
In a statement, CAIR San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam said:
“We urge campus police to investigate this alleged assault as a possible hate crime and to bring the perpetrator to justice. In the meantime, SDSU officials need to give the matter their full attention and address the alleged bias motive. Also, this is an opportunity for the Campus Presidential Task Force to step up and make the students on campus feel safe and protected against such attacks. This was clearly an attack on a group of students of color, one of whom was wearing a hijab. We believe it may be not only an assault, but also a hate crime that needs to be treated as such when prosecuting the alleged attacker.”
She also noted that the San Diego State University Task Force has not reached out to any groups off campus working against hate crimes or registered the event as a hate crime with the San Diego District Attorney’s office.
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR-SD Executive Director Tazheen Nizam, 760-201-7626 or tnizam@cair.com