Hamline University has been gutted for giving in to student whims and kicking out experienced professionals by firing a professor for showing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad in an online art history class.
Professor Erika Lopez Prater was fired from the University of Minnesota and her class was branded “Islamophobic” in a stunning rebuke after several students complained.
On October 6, Prater taught an online course on Islamic art that was part of a broader world arts curriculum. She chose a 14th-century depiction of the angel Gabriel delivering the first revelation of the prophet.
Aware that in some areas of Islam it is blasphemous to look at an image of the Prophet, Professor Prater gave the students two minutes to look away from the screen or sign off before projecting the image onto their presentation.
Professor Erika Lopez Prater was fired from the University of Minnesota and her class was branded “Islamophobic” in a startling rebuke after several students, including Aram Wedatalla (right), complained that an art history class had featured a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad had shown
Aram Wedatalla, a student who is also the president of the university’s Muslim Association, chose to keep classes online. She then complained to school officials that the picture “taken them by surprise” and made her feel left out.
Despite being told by department head Allison Baker that she did “everything right,” Prater was fired after other students, including some who weren’t in class, complained.
I am offended as a Muslim. In choosing to label this image of Muhammad as Islamophobic, supporting the view that depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam, Hamline has favored an extremely extreme and conservative Muslim stance
Professor Amna Khalid, who supports the fired Hamline professor
The students saw it as a victory.
“Hamline teaches us that it’s not about intent, it’s about effect,” student DeAngela Huddleston told the school newspaper The Oracle.
But outrage is growing among other Prater professors and supporters, who say she was wrongly punished to appease student whims.
Among them is Amna Khalid, Associate Professor of History at Carleton College.
In an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Khalid – who is Muslim – argued that Hamline had betrayed students by stooping to admit only one view – that of the complaining student.
“This case offends me on many levels… As a professor, I am appalled by the senior administration’s decision to fire the faculty and help the students who claim to have been ‘harmed’.”
Nearly 8,000 people have signed this Change.org petition in support of the fired professor
“This kind of ‘inclusive excellence’ allows DEI administrators to be ruthless in their treatment of faculty knowledge.
“But most of all I’m offended as a Muslim. In choosing to label this image of Muhammad as Islamophobic, supporting the view that depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam, Hamline has favored an extremely extreme and conservative Muslim stance.
Muslim professor Amna Khalid said Hamline “privileged an extremely extreme and conservative Muslim view”.
“The administrators have leveled the rich history and diversity of Islamic thought.
“Your insistence that depictions of Muhammad are ‘forbidden to Muslims’ contradicts historical and contemporary evidence,” she wrote.
There is also a Change.org petition in support of the fired professor that has garnered 7,000 signatures.
The petition calls on the university to launch an independent investigation and says it fired Prater without giving her the right to a “due process.”
The Prater has not commented on the scandal.
After the incident in October, the University of Inclusive Excellence’s associate vice president called the lesson “undeniably Islamophobic” in an interview with the student newspaper.
“It has been decided that it is for the best if this faculty member is no longer part of the Hamline community,” he said.
It remains unclear if Allison Baker, the department head who agreed with Prater and told her she did “everything right,” remains in her position.
Hamline University did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday morning.