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Late in 2022, news broke that an Art Historian and Professor at Hamline University had been dismissed over a dispute involving an image of the Prophet Muhammad in her class. In a class on global art, Professor Erika López Prater showed an image of a 14th-century painting depicting the prophet Muhammad. Despite carefully offering students who did not want to view the image an option to opt out, students complained. Following accusations on the part of the administration of discrimination and Islamophobia, the professor’s contract was not renewed for the following semester, in turn highlighting her precarity as a non-tenure track faculty member.

 

The Academic Freedom and Due Process Committee and Professor Lauren Osborne, Associate Professor of Religion, will host a conversation about this viral case.  The workshop will introduce the principles of academic freedom and be followed by a presentation by Professor Osborne that illuminates how religion, race, precarity, and academic freedom played crucial roles in the controversy. The workshop will follow with small group conversations among community members about the factors at play. 

 

Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to attend this campus-wide conversation.

 
Refreshments (coffee, tea, and treats) will be provided courtesy of the Provost/Dean of Faculty's office.
 

Recommended Readings:

 

Lauren Osborne, “Freedom, Tradition, and Precarity at Hamline”, January 19, 2023

 

Joan Scott, “Blasphemy is not a DEI Issue” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 17, 2023.

 

Alexander Jabbari, “Where Religion and Neoliberal Diversity Tactics Converge: The Hamline controversy over a depiction of Muhammad is symptomatic of something deeper,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 12, 2023.

 

Christiane Gruber, “An Academic is Fired over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad,” New Lines, December 22, 2022

Podcast: “Behind the Hamline University Incident — with Erika López Prater and Christiane Gruber”

Muslim scholars discussed the issue with Dr. Lopez Prater on this youtube webinar “Islamophobia vs. Academic Freedom

Vimal Patel, “A Lecturer Showed an Image of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost her Job”, January 8, 2023

 
-Sent on behalf of The Academic Freedom and Due Process Committee and guest speaker Lauren Osborne

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  • Terence Mahlatini

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