Why is this vandalism?

[Feif]

http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/96457.p...ntentId=217031

There's been a rash of bias incidents at Pace University, upsetting students and administrators alike.

On the school’s Manhattan campus, a paperback copy of the Koran was tossed into a toilet.

It’s the third bias incident in the past two weeks. Earlier, vandals scrawled a swastika on a bathroom wall, and someone also sprayed the n-word onto a car at the Westchester campus.

Teachers and students have been meeting to discuss the vandalism.

I don't see why flushing a copy of the Koran down a toilet is vandalism. If I own a book, it is mine to do with as I please. Is it insensitive? Yes. But not vandilism. Spraying a swastika or n***** on someone else's property is. Flushing a privately owned book down a toilet isn't.

[HangerAngler]

I could argue that flushing any typically non-flushable item down a toilet is vandalism. The fact that it was a Koran wouldn't affect that (at least to me). If someone tried to flush a beach towel down the toilet, I would label it vandalism.

[The President]

Originally Posted by Feif

Spraying a swastika or n***** on someone else's property is. Flushing a privately owned book down a toilet isn't.

-Vandalism is a poor word for it, hate crime would be better
-Books are not meant to be flushed
-Toilets are not designed to work with books, therefore it could be vandalism of the toilet.
-If I use a Torah to start a fire in a metal trash can along the baseball field on campus, what would you consider that?

If it clogs the toilet, it sure is vandalism. And it's a similar sort of vandalism to the swastica or the n-word, as it's not only vandalism but also meant to upset or intimidate members of targeted groups.

If someone flushed it down carefully, page by page, and didn't clog the toilet, how would anyone else know he'd done it?

Originally Posted by The President

-Vandalism is a poor word for it, hate crime would be better
-Books are not meant to be flushed
-Toilets are not designed to work with books, therefore it could be vandalism of the toilet.
-If I use a Torah to start a fire in a metal trash can along the baseball field on campus, what would you consider that?

Your own torah? Probably a hate crime, maybe just an act of stupidity. Depends on the details. (Have you checked out the cost of torahs lately?)

[SamTheEagle]

The part of the article that you quoted never actually refers to the flushing as vandalism. It refers to the flushing as a "bias incident".

[The President]

Originally Posted by Lucy

Your own torah? Probably a hate crime, maybe just an act of stupidity. Depends on the details. (Have you checked out the cost of torahs lately?)

Cost is irrelevant.

Originally Posted by The President

Cost is irrelevant.

Do I need to add a smiley so you know when I am making a joke?

[Feif]

First off, I don't think their problem was with the toilet. I doubt it stuffed it up, as it probably wouldn't go down to get stuck in the pipe.
As for doing something with a Torah - as Lucy said, if it was your Torah, it wouldn't be vandalism. I'd probably try to stop you, as a Torah holds extremely high value to a Jew. I'd offer to buy it from you rather than have you burn it. But it wouldn't be vandalism if it was yours.

[HangerAngler]

What is the definition of a "bias incident?"