Police have launched an investigation after English translations of the Quran were found in toilet bowls at the University of Texas.
Photos shared by local media show copies of the Islam’s holiest book in three toilet bowls.
Campus police say the case is “strange” and “very unusual” due to the religious diversity at the university.
Police are trying to identify one of six people who were seen entering the toilet on the evening of Tuesday 28 March.
Investigators have been reviewing CCTV footage to find a suspect.
A communal “reflection room” where books of different faiths are kept on the building’s ground floor were not touched, according to investigators.
Mohammad Syed, president of the college’s Muslim Student Association, told local media the case was “definitely saddening and a little disturbing as well”.
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He said: “While there is a little voice of hate, there is an overwhelming voice of love and support and we definitely appreciate that.”
He added that the university is “a very welcoming environment”.
Police Chief Larry Zacharias told the Dallas Morning News: “No one knows who owns the books, so that makes it difficult.”
The Qurans were discovered by members of the student government after an evening meeting.
“I was appalled,” said Jonathan Schuler, who found the holy books in the toilets.
“It made a lot of the hate I had been hearing and seeing on national news real, and very present.”
The student senators have released a statement calling it an isolated incident that does not represent the University of Texas’ community.
