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Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org ([link removed]) | November 25, 2025 — The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) strongly condemns the hate-fueled, Islamophobic harassment that Muslim students at the University of South Florida endured while they were peacefully praying on November 18th. According to the USF Police Department (USFPD), three men identified as Christopher Svochak, Richard Penkoski, and Ricardo Yepez confronted students during their early morning Fajr prayer on the rooftop of a campus parking garage.

The students described a terrifying scene: the men shouted slurs about their religion, mocked their sacred ritual with a cardboard “Kaaba 2.0 – Jesus is Lord” box, spat near worshippers, and waved bacon, a food explicitly forbidden in Islam, immediately after the prayer. USFPD has since filed felony hate-crime charges (“disturbing schools and religious assemblies”) along with misdemeanors, and USF is issuing trespass orders to bar the individuals from returning to campus.

This is not just a violation of the students’ religious freedom. It is a targeted hate crime and act of intimidation fueled by bigotry. MPAC calls on USF leadership to ensure full accountability, strengthen protections for Muslim students, and invest in education and resources to ensure that no one on campus fears for their safety simply for praying, while emphasizing to the Administration and Congress that Islamophobia deserves the same urgency, attention, and concrete action that our institutions apply to addressing any other form of hate.


** Community leaders gathered at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay to stand in solidarity with the Muslim students who were harassed on the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus early Tuesday (Image: WUSF ([link removed]) )
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