RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — Police are investigating a vandalism case at UC Riverside as a hate crime after vandals broke into the Department of Ethnic Studies and graduate student offices.

They stole and defaced at least four photos of women of color, rummaged through mailboxes and tore down an image of the Palestinian flag, according to a memo by professor and Chairman of Ethics Studies Dylan Rodriguez

“The flag represents your culture, your identity. And for someone to rip it down, it’s kind of like they’re disrespecting your entire culture and who you are,” said student Nihaal Shah.

Vandals also broke into the office of faculty members. Rodriguez posted about the incident on Facebook: “Women of color have been specifically targeted by these parties, and the available information makes it abundantly clear that these acts of violence are significantly motivated by anti-Muslim and Islamophobic sentiment and/or ideology.”

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Strategic Communications James Grant said hate will not be tolerated on campus. “This is the most diverse campus of the University of California system. There’s no place for hatred on our campus and we will prosecute those responsible.”

The vandalism came at a time when tensions are already high in the UC system. The UC board has condemned anti-Semitic behavior and filed a report urging campus leaders to confront anti-Zionist behavior as well.

“It really is affecting everyone. And even indirectly, it is going to affect us all because we want to portray the image that we are nice people,” student Leslie Real Hernandez said.

If you have any information, UC police would like to hear from you.