US Professor Sues University For Dismissing Her Over Prophet Muhammad Images Shown In Art Class
SaharaReporters had reported how Hamline University, a private liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. declined to renew the contract of a professor, Erika López Prater, who showed her students mediaeval paintings depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
An American professor, Erika Lopez Prater, has approached the court for relief after Hamline University in Minnesota dismissed her for using Prophet Muhammad’s images during her art class.
SaharaReporters had reported how Hamline University, a private liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. declined to renew the contract of a professor, Erika López Prater, who showed her students mediaeval paintings depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
The 42-year-old professor was let go from her position at the university in Saint Paul despite warning students ahead of time about the 14th-century imagery.
A new report from the New York Times indicated that the professor was fired by Hamline University President Fayneese Miller for putting academic freedom over the respect of Muslim students.
Many practising Muslims do not believe in looking at pictures of Prophet Muhammad as they believe it may lead to worshipping an image.
Her attorneys announced on Tuesday that she is suing the Minnesota university that fired her after a Muslim student objected to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course, even though the university admitted to a "mistake" and plans to hold public discussions about academic freedom.
Erika López Prater claims in her lawsuit that Hamline University, a small, private school in St. Paul, subjected her to religious discrimination and defamation, as well as harmed her professional and personal reputation.
“Among other things, Hamline, through its administration, has referred to Dr. López Prater's actions as ‘undeniably Islamophobic,’'' her attorneys said in a statement. “Comments like these, which have now been published in news stories around the globe, will follow Dr. López Prater throughout her career, potentially resulting in her inability to obtain a tenure track position at any institution of higher education.”
In Minnesota, a lawsuit can be started by serving a summons and a complaint to the party being sued. Attorneys for López Prater said the lawsuit was served to Hamline University on Tuesday and will soon be filed in court.
Hamline University President Fayneese Miller and Ellen Watters, the Board of Trustees chair, released a joint statement Tuesday saying recent “communications, articles and opinion pieces” have led the school to “review and re-examine our actions.”
“Like all organizations, sometimes we misstep,” the statement said. “In the interest of hearing from and supporting our Muslim students, language was used that does not reflect our sentiments on academic freedom. Based on all that we have learned, we have determined that our usage of the term ‘Islamophobic’ was therefore flawed."
The statement made no mention of the lawsuit, but stated that the university strongly supports academic freedom, which should coexist with student support. In the coming months, the university intends to hold two public discussions, one on academic freedom and student care and the other on academic freedom and religion.
According to the lawsuit, López Prater's course syllabus stated that students would be exposed to images of religious figures such as the Prophet Muhammad. The syllabus also included an invitation to work with students who were uncomfortable viewing those images.
She also warned the class immediately before showing the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. She said in media interviews last week that her goal was to teach students about the “rich diversity” of attitudes toward such imagery.
López Prater has said she and the department chair were discussing her teaching a new course, but after the student's complaint she was told “her services were no longer needed.”
Hamline’s president previously said the professor’s contract was not renewed following the fall semester.
The lawsuit alleges that instead of Hamline recognizing López Prater showed the images with a proper academic purpose, the university chose to impose the student’s religious view that no one should ever view images of the prophet on all other students and employees.
On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights organization for Muslims, disputed the belief that López Prater's behavior was Islamophobic. The group said professors who analyze images of the Prophet Muhammad for academic purposes are not the same as "Islamophobes who show such images to cause offense.”
-sahara reporters
