Attorneys for an adjunct art professor said Tuesday she is suing the Minnesota university that dismissed her after a Muslim student objected to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course, while the university admitted to a “misstep” and plans to hold public conversations about academic freedom.
In her lawsuit, Erika López Prater alleges that Hamline University — a small, private school in St. Paul — subjected her to religious discrimination and defamation, and damaged her professional and personal reputation.
“Among other things, Hamline, through its administration, has referred to Dr. López Prater’s actions as ‘undeniably Islamophobic,’″ her attorneys said in a statement. “Comments like these, which have now been published in news stories around the globe, will follow Dr. López Prater throughout her career, potentially resulting in her inability to obtain a tenure track position at any institution of higher education.”
There’s a linked article with the university newspaper’s coverage of the situation, which seems to back up the broad strokes. It’s definitely fair to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism, doubly...
There’s a linked article with the university newspaper’s coverage of the situation, which seems to back up the broad strokes.
It’s definitely fair to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism, doubly so with something like this that sits so perfectly at the confluence of multiple hot button issues for groups with very different agendas, but there is apparently video of the lecture on this one so the core facts should at least be fairly concrete.
The professor shared the depictions over a Powerpoint through a Google Meet online class. The Oracle has acquired this recording through a student in the course who wishes to stay anonymous.
In the video of the class, the professor gives a content warning and describes the nature of the depictions to be shown and reflects on their controversial nature for more than two minutes before advancing to the slides in question.
[…]
“I am showing you this image for a reason. And that is that there is this common thinking that Islam completely forbids, outright, any figurative depictions or any depictions of holy personages. While many Islamic cultures do strongly frown on this practice, I would like to remind you there is no one, monothetic Islamic culture,” the professor said before changing to the slide that included these depictions.
However, further down there is also the following:
MSA held a meeting on Nov. 10 to discuss the incident and the institutional response. The 33 attendees included Everett, Dean of Students Patti Kersten, Interim Provost Andy Rundquist, Chaplain Kelly Figueroa-Ray and Assistant Director of Social Justice Programs Nur Mood and students.
Multiple students at the meeting expressed frustration at repeated incidents of intolerance and hate speech in recent years, and asked about new forms of intervention.
Without knowing more details on what those previous incidents were, it’s hard to give context to this one. Is it making the news in isolation because it’s the last, seemingly benign link in a chain of far more serious incidents? Or is this a representative example of what this group of students considers to be intolerant? Either seems entirely plausible.
I will say that I’m fairly concerned by this quote:
Deangela Huddleston, a Hamline senior and [Muslim Student Association] member, also shared her thoughts with the Oracle.
“Hamline teaches us it doesn’t matter the intent, the impact is what matters,” Huddleston said.
But I’m also not going to rest my judgment of the whole situation on a one line reply from a single student, because I have no way of knowing if that is representative of the prevailing sentiment either.
[Edit] Amusingly, the NYT article ends with a quote saying precisely the opposite:
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the deputy executive director of the national chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that he did not have enough information to comment on the Hamline dispute. But while his group discourages visual depictions of the prophet, he said that there was a difference between an act that was un-Islamic and one that was Islamophobic.
“If you drink a beer in front of me, you’re doing something that is un-Islamic, but it’s not Islamophobic,” he said. “If you drink a beer in front of me because you’re deliberately trying to offend me, well then, maybe that has an intent factor.”
“Intent and circumstances matter,” he said, “especially in a university setting, where academic freedom is critical and professors often address sensitive and controversial topics.”
Further coverage from the university newspaper, giving a mostly neutral overview of the ongoing blast of media coverage rather than the original situation. It sounds like the Muslim Student...
Further coverage from the university newspaper, giving a mostly neutral overview of the ongoing blast of media coverage rather than the original situation.
It sounds like the Muslim Student Association had some seemingly legitimate existing grievances, but not with this professor specifically. Members of that same association had a grievance with this professor's action that I would say was understandable, especially in that context, but not legitimate. She does genuinely appear to have been thrown under the bus as a scapegoat by the administrators despite her choices being reasonable.
And, of course, much of the backlash has been angry, threatening, devoid of nuance, entrenched along political and cultural lines, and directed at the people who least deserved it.
Equally, though, there have been some excellent and thoughtful takes. I was impressed by this CNN opinion piece (ignore the ragebait title, the article is good):
I have yet to locate a scholar of pre-modern Islamic culture who has spoken against the use of the painting in class. In fact, countless Muslim and non-Muslim academics on social media and in essays have voiced their support both for the pedagogical use of the painting and those like it in general and specifically using the approach taken by López Prater. If this story is a sign of “political correctness run amok,” isn’t it odd that all these liberal professors are clearly on the side of the instructor here?
But it’s worth being cautious while trying to understand how these Muslim students felt themselves so unwelcome on their campus. And if the individuals just made a bad choice, were confused, had an ax to grind or conflated this classroom incident with more widespread episodes of Islamophobia and anti-Black racism on campus, in the Twin Cities, or anywhere, that’s OK, too. Students make mistakes. Sometimes I think young people are too focused on the wrong things. Sometimes it turns out that I was wrong, and they were right. That’s all part of the process of academic life.
I don’t know what these students were experiencing, but I know this: Academic freedom encompasses the right to teach controversial material and the right for students to complain about it.
Which brings us back to power and labor rights. Students are going to complain about professors. A classroom is a fraught space where, if the teaching is good and relevant, sometimes we’re going to encounter things that rock our worldview. The question is how the people with power respond in such moments.
I'm also pleased to see statements like this from prominent Muslim organisations, which I think are enormously helpful in reminding the students who complained, and others who find themselves in similar situations, of the importance of recognising and accepting respectful disagreement all the more in the face of broader marginalisation and disrespect.
I myself am very interested in architectural and art history, and one of my favorite lectures was one on Islamic gardens architecture, given by a passionately fiery woman who was one of the...
I myself am very interested in architectural and art history, and one of my favorite lectures was one on Islamic gardens architecture, given by a passionately fiery woman who was one of the field's most eminent scholars.
And even I was ignorant of the fact it was once common for Islamic rulers and elite to commission artistic depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. I would've appreciated Dr. López Prater's lecture and presentation of the nuances around now-forbidden depictions.
Update: Art professor sues after firing over Prophet Muhammad images
There’s a linked article with the university newspaper’s coverage of the situation, which seems to back up the broad strokes.
It’s definitely fair to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism, doubly so with something like this that sits so perfectly at the confluence of multiple hot button issues for groups with very different agendas, but there is apparently video of the lecture on this one so the core facts should at least be fairly concrete.
However, further down there is also the following:
Without knowing more details on what those previous incidents were, it’s hard to give context to this one. Is it making the news in isolation because it’s the last, seemingly benign link in a chain of far more serious incidents? Or is this a representative example of what this group of students considers to be intolerant? Either seems entirely plausible.
I will say that I’m fairly concerned by this quote:
But I’m also not going to rest my judgment of the whole situation on a one line reply from a single student, because I have no way of knowing if that is representative of the prevailing sentiment either.
[Edit] Amusingly, the NYT article ends with a quote saying precisely the opposite:
Further coverage from the university newspaper, giving a mostly neutral overview of the ongoing blast of media coverage rather than the original situation.
It sounds like the Muslim Student Association had some seemingly legitimate existing grievances, but not with this professor specifically. Members of that same association had a grievance with this professor's action that I would say was understandable, especially in that context, but not legitimate. She does genuinely appear to have been thrown under the bus as a scapegoat by the administrators despite her choices being reasonable.
And, of course, much of the backlash has been angry, threatening, devoid of nuance, entrenched along political and cultural lines, and directed at the people who least deserved it.
Equally, though, there have been some excellent and thoughtful takes. I was impressed by this CNN opinion piece (ignore the ragebait title, the article is good):
I'm also pleased to see statements like this from prominent Muslim organisations, which I think are enormously helpful in reminding the students who complained, and others who find themselves in similar situations, of the importance of recognising and accepting respectful disagreement all the more in the face of broader marginalisation and disrespect.
I myself am very interested in architectural and art history, and one of my favorite lectures was one on Islamic gardens architecture, given by a passionately fiery woman who was one of the field's most eminent scholars.
And even I was ignorant of the fact it was once common for Islamic rulers and elite to commission artistic depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. I would've appreciated Dr. López Prater's lecture and presentation of the nuances around now-forbidden depictions.
Archived.