A professor in the United States has announced plans to sue a Minnesota university following a dispute over the display of a painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad during an Islamic art class.
Hamline University, a small private school in the city of St. Paul, chose not to renew the contract of assistant professor Erica Lopez Prater after a student objected to her displaying a 14th-century painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad in an Islamic art class as part from the Lopez Prater Global Art Course.
For many Muslims, visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are strictly forbidden and seen as a breach of faith. The lawsuit, which Lopez Prater’s lawyers said Tuesday would soon be filed in court, reiterates the professor’s previous statement that she offered warnings before showing the image — including in the syllabus and immediately before showing the image — and voluntarily worked with students uncomfortable when viewing the images.
The lawsuit alleges that the university subjected Lopez Prater to religious discrimination and defamation and damaged her professional and personal reputation.
“Among other things, Hamline, through her administration, referred to Dr. Lopez Prater’s actions as ‘undoubtedly Islamophobic,'” her attorneys said in a statement.
Bismillah. We’re releasing a statement today to clarify how our civil rights group identifies #Islamophobia, how we view depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and how we view the @HamlineU controversy. Read this thread or the full statement below. 1/12 pic.twitter.com/MXKiiL67RL
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) January 13, 2023
“Comments like these, which have already been published in news stories around the world, will follow Dr. Lopez Prater throughout her career, potentially resulting in her being unable to obtain a tenure-track position at any institution of higher learning.” .”
The incident, which occurred in October, sparked a debate about the balance between religious considerations and academic freedom, with the school administration appearing to change its position on the issue amid the backlash.
According to the New York Times, Hamline University’s vice president for inclusive excellence told staff in an email sent in November that the actions in the class were “undoubtedly inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic.”
In a statement Tuesday, Hamline University President Fayneese Miller and its board chair Ellen Waters took a more cautious approach, saying recent “communications, articles and opinions” had caused the school to “review and reconsider our actions.”
“Like all organizations, we sometimes make mistakes,” the statement said. “In the interest of hearing and supporting our Muslim students, language was used that does not reflect our feelings about academic freedom. Based on everything we’ve learned, we’ve decided that our use of the term “Islamophobic” is wrong.
The university did not directly respond to the lawsuit, but added that it plans to hold two public conversations in the coming months, one on academic freedom and student care and another on academic freedom and religion.
The National Headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also weighed in on the issue, drawing a distinction between showing images of the Prophet Muhammad for academic purposes as opposed to in a careless or malicious context, and noted some Muslim groups everywhere the story “painted paintings depicting the Prophet hundreds of years after his death’.
“Based on what we know to this point, we see no evidence that former Hamline University Associate Professor Erika Lopez Prater acted with Islamophobic intent or engaged in conduct that meets our definition of Islamophobia,” the group said in statement released last week.
They added that the statement is “the only official position of CAIR nationwide. Any conflicting previous statements do not reflect the position of CAIR”. The statement appeared to respond to an earlier petition released by the Minnesota branch of CAIR that justified the university’s actions.
At a press conference organized by the local branch last week, Aram Vedatala, a 23-year-old senior student at the school, identified herself as the student who made the original complaint.
“It just breaks my heart that I have to stand here to tell people that something is Islamophobic and something is actually hurting all of us, not just me,” said Vedatala, who is president of Hamline’s Muslim Student Association.
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