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The Latest Breaking News from Hamline University

Minnesota professor dismissed over showing Islamic art can proceed with lawsuit, judge rules

An art professor can proceed with her lawsuit against a private Minnesota university that fired her for showing early Islamic art to at least one Muslim student in a class

The Independent UK

Court Allows Religious Discrimination Claim to Go Forward in Ex-Hamline Prof's Mohammed Images / Islamic Art Controversy

As readers of the blog may know, Hamline University declined to renew Erica López Prater's instructor contract because she displayed Islamic Art containing images of Mohammed in her World Art class, and some students objected. López Prater sued, and on Friday Judge Katherine M. Menendez (D. Minn.) allowed her religious…

Reason

Report finds Hamline University violated professor’s academic freedom in Islamic art controversy

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Hamline University’s response to a Muslim student’s art class complaint last fall violated the professor’s academic freedom, according to a new report by the American Association of University Professors.

Pioneer Press

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‘I can’t afford groceries’: why one-third of US college students don’t have enough to eat

There are now around 800 food pantries on US college campuses, and demand is growing as pandemic-era resources end

The Guardian - US

Minnesota college head to retire after Islamic art dispute

The president of a private Minnesota university says she's retiring next year

The Independent UK

Novelist, academic and tattoo artist Samuel Steward's plight shows that 'cancel culture' was alive and well in the 1930s

In January 2023, Hamline University opted not to renew the contract of an art professor who showed a 14th-century depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in class. Hamline labeled the incident “Islamophobic” and released a statement, co-signed by the university’s president, saying that respect for “Muslim students … should have superseded…

The Conversation

Debates over sacred images in the Byzantine Empire show why it's hard to appease any side

An adjunct lecturer at Hamline University recently lost her job for showing an image of Prophet Muhammad in an art history class, which some students and administrators considered to be Islamophobic. The university later retracted the accusation of Islamophobia and said in a statement, “It was never our intent to…

The Conversation

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Hamline Faculty Vote 71-12 to Ask University President to Step Down Over Muhammad Painting Firing Controversy

[UPDATE: Full faculty statement added.]

Reason

Editorial: Academic freedom for all: Hamline University, the University Florida and other attempts to control what professors teach

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…

Tribune News Service

An academic drama over false Islamophobia

While there have been many Hamline University faculty and students who have resisted substituting identity politics and theocracy for academic inquiry, the college appears to have an utterly spineless administration.

Chicago Sun-Times

Commentary: Outrage over an image of Muhammad is itself Islamophobia

In the name of combating Islamophobia, Hamline University in Minnesota has committed a particularly egregious exercise in Islamophobia.

Tribune News Service

US professor sues university over Prophet Muhammad image row

University says it is reviewing actions after art professor’s contract not renewed amid student objection.

Al Jazeera

Art professor sues after firing over Prophet Muhammad images

An adjunct art professor is suing the Minnesota university that dismissed her for including depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course

The Independent UK

Instructor who showed Prophet Muhammad images sues Hamline University; school officials say calling it Islamophobic was flawed

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former art instructor who showed images of the Prophet Muhammad in class has sued Hamline University, saying administrators defamed her and reneged on an offer to teach in the spring semester.

Tribune News Service

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Reason

Hamline Adjunct Fired for Showing Muhammad Images Sues + Hamline Statement Seems to Backtrack

The Pioneer Press (Josh Verges) reports [UPDATE: see also the Complaint]: The adjunct professor accused of Islamophobia for showing artwork in class that depicted the Prophet Muhammad filed a lawsuit against Hamline University on Tuesday as Hamline's president conceded the school mishandled the controversy. Professor Erika Lopez Prater is suing…

Los Angeles Times

Robin Abcarian: Firing an art history professor for showing students an image of the Prophet Muhammad is out of line

The art history instructor was diligent, empathetic and sensitive. She gave plenty of warning, including in her class syllabus, letting her students know ahead of time that she planned to show them ancient depictions of the Prophet Muhammad as part of her global art history course at Hamline University, a…

Tribune News Service

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Feds propose new rules aimed at helping borrowers repay student loans

Tribune News Service

Hamline University at center of academic freedom debate over Islamic artwork shown in class

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The centuries-old artworks appeared on Hamline University students' computer screens during an art history class early one October morning.

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Reason

Muslim Public Affairs Council Statement of Support for Hamline Professor Who Showed Muhammad Paintings

From the statement: It is with great concern that the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) views the firing of an art professor, Erika López Prater, from Hamline University on the grounds of showing a fourteenth-century painting depicting the Prophet Muḥammad. We issue this statement of support for the professor and…

The Conversation

Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important piece of history – here's why art historians teach them

Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, recently dismissed Erika López Prater, an adjunct faculty member, for showing two historical Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in her global survey of art history. Following complaints from some Muslim students, university administrators described such images as disrespectful and Islamophobic.

Reason

Taboos in Universities, Against Displaying Certain Images and Quoting Certain Words

"Dr. Kostihova compared showing the image [of Muhammed] to using a racial epithet for Black people ...."

Reason

More on Hamline

Over at The Dispatch, I have a new piece on Hamline University and its academic freedom struggles. Here's a taste: In an extremely competitive field, Hamline University is making a bold bid to be the new standard-bearer for universities willing to cast aside principles of academic freedom and freedom of…

Reason

A College Fired a Professor for Showing a Painting of Muhammad. Now, It Could Lose Its Accreditation.

"If Hamline won't listen to free speech advocates or faculty across the country, they'll have to listen to their accreditor," said FIRE attorney Alex Morey, who filed the complaint.

Reason

Hamline President Keeps Digging

In email to campus Hamline University president reemphasizes that academic freedom does not exist there

Reason

FIRE Files Academic Freedom Complaint With Hamline University's Accrediting Agency

From FIRE's letter sent yesterday to the Higher Learning Commission (which is Hamline's accrediting agency, "a regional accreditation agency that accredits degree granting institutions of higher education that are based in the 19-state North Central region of the United States"): To the Higher Learning Commission: As a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated…

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