Arrest Made in Quran Investigation

On Jul. 27, the NYPD made an arrest in the ongoing investigation surrounding the defamation of the Qur'an on two occasions on Pace University property. Stanislav Shmulevich, 23, was arrested outside the University's meditation center after police identified him through campus security surveillance.

Following the arrest, police say Shmulevich made "admitting statements" connecting him to the Oct. 13 and Nov. 21 incidents, in which copies of the Quran were found submerged in a second-floor University toilet. He is currently being charged for each incident on counts of criminal mischief and felony-exaggerated harassment.

In a statement released to the NY Daily News, Shmulevich's roommate, 24-year-old Ola Petrovich said the charges stunned her. "He was defending the Quran," she said. According to police reports, in his statement, Shmulevich said he was angry with a group of Muslim students.

The suspect works at a European banking firm and was only a few credits shy of graduating with a degree in international business before taking time off from classes.

According to the NY Daily News, Shmulevich resides in both a Brooklyn apartment as well as his parents' house on Staten Island. His father, 55-year-old Edward Shmulevich, said he too was surprised by the charges against his son. "He's a hard worker and he's about to graduate from college. He works full time at night and then he goes to school. I'm surprised, utterly surprised. I don't know what happened."

In light of Shmulevich's arrest, widespread opinions have been voiced, eliciting mass media coverage. On Jul. 31, CNN's Paula Zahn Now covered the arrest as part of the telecast's opening segment.

During the discussion, Zahn spoke with Ibrahim Hooper, the National Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor of Vanity Fair and author of the book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

At the forefront of the discussion was not only the act itself, but also the University's decision to label both incidents as hate crimes. Hooper argued the incidents were acts of intimidation towards the University's Muslim community.

"If he had done this in his own home or on the public square as an act of some perverse free speech, nobody would care," Hooper said. "We get reports all the time of the Quran being desecrated. But when it crosses the line from free speech to acts of intimidation, that's when you get into a hate crime."

Hitchens disagreed and stressed the First Amendment right to free speech. "That may very well involve and in fact was designed to protect criticism of religion. It may be expressed in a very vulgar manner in this case."

Following both incidents, as well as other hate related crimes, which occurred on both the NYC and Pleasantville campuses, former President David A. Caputo announced the Not on My Watch campaign. The program, which is overseen by the University's Affirmative Action Officer, Lisa Miles, enforces the need to promote tolerance and campus-wide diversity.

As part of the campaign's future plans, special programs and classes promoting equality and self-responsibility are currently under development. President Stephen J. Friedman said in an online release on Jul.30, "These incidents were contrary to Pace's 100 years of acceptance and tolerance. We take incidents like these seriously, cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities, and pursue investigations vigorously. We will continue our vigilance against hate and for mutual acceptance."