As a wronged lecturer sues a small Minnesota liberal arts college, the school’s leaders have at long last admitted: “sometimes we misstep.” By that, they mean that they shouldn’t have branded an art history instructor’s actions “Islamophobic” when she dared to show a 14th-century image of the Prophet Muhammad. Adjunct Professor Erika López Prater’s decision to introduce the image to her class (only after her repeated warnings that images of holy figures would be shown) upset some students, ultimately leading to López Prater losing her job.
The very limited apology is welcome, given that Hamline University had previously hunkered down and denied any errors in its treatment of a faculty member. They didn’t abridge academic freedom, they insist — they merely weighed it alongside other concerns.
But when an art historian cannot respectfully display and discuss actual depictions of Buddha and Muhammad in a course without unleashing holy hell, academic freedom is not merely being put in context; it is being blatantly overridden.
It is not just the eggshells of liberal or progressive sensitivities on which far too many instructors are now forced to walk as they do the necessary work of educating young people in complicated and often controversial ideas. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called Stop W.O.K.E. Act is a state statute designed to, among other things, intimidate professors at public universities from broaching certain subjects. In November, a judge — quoting George Orwell’s “1984″ — got it precisely right: “ ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13,’ and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the state has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom.’...This is positively dystopian.”
Social justice warriors want to stop professors from stepping over do-not-cross lines they’ve drawn in almost every subject area. Conservative culture warriors want to stop professors from being woke. Both must stand down, and those who believe in virtually unfettered campus speech rights must finally and consistently stand up.
