For the second year in a row, the Muslim Student Association found its signs vandalized on campus. The signs were defaced on Monday March 21 and have subsequently been disturbed throughout the last week by an unknown perpetrator(s). The signs were located at the Belk Tower and next to the Student Activity Center's clock tower when letters were taken off and a pane of glass that was attached to the sign was destroyed.

"We worked on those signs for about 15 to 20 hours over three weeks, and they cost over $125" President of the MSA, Omar Rokayak said. "Why someone would do something like this other than mere destruction?"

The MSA has contacted Police and Public Safety and an investigation is underway. "As of now, we have no information or suspects," Major William Harper said. "We're not sure if this is directed at Muslims because of the war. It's a possibility, but we're still investigating. But we're treating this like we would if it were any [other organization]."

According to Harper, it's common to see signs of fraternities and sororities around the Belk Tower damaged each year. However, police believe that rival Greek organizations were involved in those incidents.

Rokayak said that after last year's incident where his group's signs were vandalized that this year's signs were built "better and stronger" to help avoid problems like this. Adding, "What happened last year was much worse than this year's but it's still something that shouldn't have occurred on our campus."

A sentiment that was echoed by Judith Rowles, assistant director of Student Activities for Student Organizations.

"[SASO is] supporting the group and offering to help them in any endeavors that they would do," she said. "We're sad that these events have taken place but we are here to support [MSA] however they plan to move forward."

The MSA isn't letting these actions deter future endeavors for them. "We are strongly determined to keep these signs up," Rokayak said. "We will get these signs up and people will be surprised by the bigger projects that we have coming up."

Last year, a similar incident occurred when the People Recognizing Individual Diversity and Equality's signs located at the Belk Tower were destroyed. PRIDE is UNC Charlotte's homosexual and transgender organization. No charges were filed for this incident.

If you have any information on any of these incidents please contact Police and Public Safety at (704) 687-8300 or contact Omar Rokayak at oarokaya@uncc.edu.

The Muslim Student Association is a student organization founded as an outlet for UNCC's Muslim students and to help teach the University area about the religion of Islam. The group meets Mondays at 5:15 p.m. in the Cone Center lounge.