A Lecturer Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job.
The NYT piece made a wider audience of the Hamline University Story. What unfolded was “a national controversy, which pitted advocates of academic liberty and free speech against Muslims who believe that showing the image of Prophet Muhammad is always sacrilegious.”\
A Hamline adjunct instructor for a global art history class warned students that a 14th century painting of the Prophet Muhammad would be shown in class (trigger warning), giving students the chance to leave as needed. It was shown. And then came the student backlash, and then the “your services are no longer needed” decision by administrators. “In emails to students and faculty, they [officials] said that the incident was clearly Islamophobic. Hamline’s president, Fayneese S. Miller, co-signed an email that said respect for the Muslim students ‘should have superseded academic freedom.’ At a town hall, an invited Muslim speaker compared showing the images to teaching that Hitler was good.”
Update: After Lecturer Sues, Hamline University Walks Back Its ‘Islamophobic’ Comments (NYT, 1/17/23)
Related:
Let’s Face It: Academic Freedom and Inclusion Aren’t Always Compatible (Banished, 2/8/23)
Hamline: The university fighting back against the diversocrats (Spectator, 1/30/23)
After Lecturer Sues, Hamline University Walks Back Its ‘Islamophobic’ Comments (NYT, 1/17/23)
The Academic-Freedom Controversy That Won’t Die: Hamline University (Chronicle, 1/13/23)
Academic Freedom Is Not a Matter of Opinion (Atlantic, 1/12/23)
Hamline University’s Controversial Firing Is a Warning (Slate, 1/11/23)
Don't Ban Depictions of Muhammad From the Classroom (Persuasion, 1/11/23)
FIRE Letter to Hamline University (FIRE, 1/3/23)- Faculty who are interested in joining this letter may email facultyoutreach@thefire.org
AFA Letter to Hamline University (AFA, 1/3/23)
Mostly, I’m Offended as a Muslim: The Hamline University shocking imposition of narrow religious orthodoxy (Chronicle of Higher Ed, 12/22/22)
