The NYT finally writes about the Hamline University/Muhammad story, and Kenan Malik offers his take January 9, 2023 10:45 am "Respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superceded academic freedom." Fayneese Miller, President, Hamline University Terms Of Use. The instructors contract wasnt renewed, but organizations including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and individuals have called for the instructors instatement. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Local Muslim leaders say their community is hurting after an incident last semester at Hamline University. And both pointed to Lpez Praters trigger warnings as evidence that she knew she should not be showing the images. WCCO spoke about the controversy with David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline. That dean, provost, president or chancellor who is sunsetting tenure, hiring cheap labor, holding down costs, arousing the Captains of Industry on the Board, and thus decimating academic free speech was (and is) one of us. It is an act of insult., Aram Wedatalla, a Hamline senior and the president of Muslim Student Association (MSA), was in the class at the time the photos were shared.
Hamline University and the Assumed Fragility of Muslims<!-- --> - The Image. "This idea of academic freedom being absolute is absolutely wrong," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein.
Hamline University's President Announces Retirement After Prophet While many Muslims believe that visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are sacrilegious, that view is not universally held within Islam. A Hamline University lecturer showed a painting of the Prophet Muhammad and Wedatalla was one of the students in the class when the image was displayed. An incident at Hamline University last semester is sparking conversations all over the country about how to discuss . However, as Berkson made plain to The Daily Beast, I dont think that the blame should be placed on the students or the faculty member. Scheibel said turnout at the meeting was strong, with about 70 percent of the universitys 130 full-time professors in attendance. Dubious logic aside, is this position a left-wing or right-wing stance? An administrator then called the professor's actions "Islamophobic" - a label that the university later recanted - and her adjunct contract was not renewed. For some students, that letter read as a threat to Fayneese Miller, the universitys first Black president.
Uproar as US lecturer sacked for showing Prophet Muhammad images in art The support Muslim students need now is simple, Ubah said. An 18-year-old Muslim student from Lakeville who asked Sahan Journal not to print his name said he thought the art history incident had been characterized by overreaction. Hamline student, former instructor at center of debate over religion, academic freedom speak out, The role of Blackness in the Hamline Islamic art controversy, Kayla Renee Wheeler and Edward E. Curtis IV, Statement of Support for Art Professor Fired from Hamline University, Why Its Important to Embrace the Increasing Diversity of the Latinx Religious Identity, How Summer Solstice Can Teach Us About Reflection and Change, The Body and the Spirit: The Need to Recognize Spirituality in Healthcare, Join Today! Dr. Erika Lpez Prater received her doctorate in 2019. The remaining good jobs are the ones with tenure. Professors on this track get an opportunity to climb the tenure ladder during what is (usually) a six to seven-year probationary period. "Removing President Miller from her position will make all of us Muslim students unsafe and unvalued.". The answer could cost the state $219 million. Hamline University Honors the Class of 2023. By Graeme Wood Jenn Acker man /. However, the university has denied the job decision was a result of the controversy, noting Lopez Prater was allowed to finish out the semester. In November, an adjunct art history instructor was fired from Hamline University, a private liberal arts college in Minnesota. India's Chandrayaan-3 rocket blasts into space for Moon mission, Historic India Moon mission lifts off successfully, Actors' strike to hit production of major films, India's online game tax could kill a booming industry, Murders and mayhem tearing apart an Indian state, Inside El Salvadors secretive mega-jail. She Lost Her Job. An overwhelming number of the 92 full-time professors at an all-faculty meeting Tuesday voted to adopt a statement asking President Fayneese Miller to resign, said Jim Scheibel, president of the Hamline University Faculty Council. Hamline University's full-time faculty on Tuesday asked President Fayneese Miller to resign over her administration's handling of a Muslim student's complaint about an adjunct professor who showed . This is faculty fratricide, one of the most underscrutinized, and enticingly operatic, storylines in todays academy. This is one of those times. Why depicting the Prophet Muhammad causes offence. Wedatalla was in the art history class where images of the Prophet Muhammad were shown. Opposite this growing cohort has emerged increasingly top-down administrative apparatuses that too often consist of officials distant from the classroom, who nevertheless enjoy great (unilateral, in this case) authority over it. The analysis she assigned about the images was optional. Abdi, also 18, described a sine graph of emotions (if you havent taken a math class recently, thats effectively a roller coaster). On November 7, undergraduate students received an email condemning the unnamed incident as "undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic." However, Hamline's status as a private university seemed to afford it protection from real consequences. ADVERTISEMENT Most of All, I Am Offended as a Muslim On Hamline University's shocking imposition of narrow religious orthodoxy in the classroom. In November, an adjunct art history instructor was fired from Hamline University, a private liberal arts college in Minnesota. There were mistakes made. Although we strongly discourage showing visual depictions of the prophet, the group said in a statement, professors who analyze ancient paintings for an academic purpose are not the same as Islamophobes who show such images to cause offense., Vimal Patel is a higher education reporter for The Times, focusing on speech and campus culture. Which brings us to the subject of professors inhumanity to professors. "I don't want to vilify the student," she said. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The fired art teacher belonged to what has become a precarious majority in academia: adjunct instructors, employed on contingent contracts that can be terminated at the whims of their employers. We, the professors, have met the enemy. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Dr. Erika Lpez Prater, an adjunct professor at Hamline, says she had previously warned students in the syllabus and in class that images of holy figures, including the Prophet Muhammad and the Buddha, would be presented. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Attorneys for an adjunct art professor said Tuesday she is suing the Minnesota university that dismissed her after a Muslim student objected to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course, while the university admitted to a "misstep" and plans to hold public conversations about academic freedom. Send us an email at contact@sahanjournal.com. The statement issued by full-time faculty reads in part: "We are distressed that members of the administration have mishandled this issue and great harm has been done to the reputation of Minnesotas oldest university. / CBS Minnesota. In her apology email to the offended student, the instructor recalled giving religious students an out by offering time to shut off the video component of the online lectureafter which, she claims to have described every subsequent slide with language to indicate when I was no longer showing an image of the Prophet Muhammad., Nonetheless, on Nov. 11, the AVPIE told The Oracle that Hamlines administration decided it was best that the instructor was no longer part of the Hamline community.. Faculty members called for her immediate resignation, federal data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Former Hamline professor Erika Lpez Prater sues for religious discrimination, defamation, Hamline student, former instructor debate displaying the Prophet Muhammads image, Your Weekend Guide: Art Events in the Twin Cities. It may be tempting to point fingers at Hamline students in this instance. This neglects certain pertinent factssuch as the instructor taking numerous measures to accommodate the religious beliefs of her students. We need to look at how we improve on our teaching and relationships with students of color, particularly the Muslim community, Scheibel said. Did you witness an incident that you think we should write about? HAMLINE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR FIRED FOR SHOWING IMAGES OF MUHAMMAD HAD WARNED STUDENTS IN SYLLABUS Prater issued a syllabus warning students that the class would contain images of holy. (Wedatalla initially agreed to be interviewed for this story, but did not respond to multiple requests to meet Monday; a lawyer for Lpez Prater referred a reporter to her civil complaint; and Hamline University did not respond to requests for comment.). The university later walked back that statement.
Intraoperative Neurophysiology (ION) in Neurosurgery - eMedEvents.com Muslim community honors Prophet Muhammad after incident at Hamline On January 4, FIRE announced that it had filed a formal complaint with the Higher Learning Commission, Hamline's accreditor. Have questions about your recurring donation to Sahan Journal, want to change your donation, or interested in becoming a sustainer? This is why they are less likely to express themselves openly in class. There are plenty of teaching jobs in colleges and universities. Overall, she found the media reaction extreme. She wished people could understand how much the incident had affected Muslim students.
Image of Prophet Muhammad shown in Hamline University art class We need to do more; we need to have more exchange; we need to be much more conscious in the classroom, how we are addressing and engaging students of all backgrounds. However, one student in class that daythe president of Hamline's Muslim Student Associationtook offense, complaining first to the professor, and then to school administrators. Hamline University's Controversial Firing Is a Warning . A national organization promoting academic freedom released a new report Monday assailing Hamline University's response after an art history instructor showed images of the Prophet Muhammad in class. But the details of the case and the university's response have prompted a wave of debate, media attention and conflicting public statements, culminating in a lawsuit announced Tuesday. However, Miller has the support of the student who made the initial complaint. San Martino di Lupari is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of Venice and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Padua . I teach courses on blasphemous art, triggering literature and controversial comedy if theres a pedagogical best practice that Lpez Prater missed, I do not know what it is. Recent events have required us to look deeply into our values. It's a remarkable violation of academic freedom to essentially fire the faculty member over a student complaint that involved a curricular decision that the faculty have responsibility for," said Dr. Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors. Academic freedom has been an especially fraught issue at small schools like Hamline, which is facing shrinking enrollment and growing financial pressures. Why do you wear a hijab? or Why are you Muslim? I know that there are people who ask those questions, but I can give you an answer, she said. The stories that come from Minnesotas diverse communities are priceless. However, ina follow-up statement last week, the president and the Board of Trustees chair admitted mistakes during the handling of the matter including the university referring to the act as Islamophobia. Instead, the administration took an unfortunate and escalatory direction. We are a beautifully diverse community committed to educating our students and ourselves, and sometimes that means we need to make space for hard conversations and serious self-reflection. Because of Congresss largesse back in 1994, there is no mandatory retirement age for these scholars! Help us keep them free to read for everyone. A professor who was let go from her job after showing a class an artwork depicting the Prophet Muhammad has sued her former university, alleging religious discrimination and defamation. Hamlines website reports that 44 percent of the 2022 incoming class are BIPOC. Sahan Journals nonprofit journalism is powered by readers like you. The professorshared the complaint with her chair and they co-wrote an apology. I, by contrast, view this episode as evidence of the collapse of the American professoriate from within its own ranks, so to speak. She had also sent the syllabus to her department chair and Hamline administrators, none of whom had voiced any concern. Professor, Saying the Prophet Muhammad Painting She Showed to Students Was Not Islamophobic The organization says the Minnesota teacher should be thanked for educating Muslim and non-Muslim students in "a critically empathetic manner." Jo Lawson-Tancred, January 11, 2023
Accessibility | Spinning this episode as an example of Libs gone wild is misguided; as often happens with academic dust-ups, it doesnt track along a neat left/right axis. Hamline University on the first day of the spring semester, January 23, 2023. And listen to the students, Entisar added. The former Hamline University art professor who lost her job after showing paintings depicting Muhammad, sparking controversy among Muslim students, is now bringing a lawsuit against the university. Emma Camp I think theyre doing the best that they can to ensure student safety is in place for everyone, Ubah explained. warned students multiple times before showing. Amna Khalid, a history professor at nearby Carleton College, wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education that she was "appalled" by the university's decision and that "it is the students who pay the highest price for such limits on academic freedom.". Intraoperative Neurophysiology (ION) in Neurosurgery : Innovation, Controversies and Future Perspectives is organized by European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS), World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) and International Society of Intraoperative Neurophysiology (ISIN) and will be held during Dec 14 - 16, 2017 at University of Verona, Verona, Veneto, Italy. The Muslim Public Affairs Council put out this statement of support for Dr. Lopez Prater: "We stress the importance of education in the Islamic tradition. Becky Z. Dernbach is the education reporter for Sahan Journal. | I also would consider it a call to action to improve.. "There's a difference between academic discussions in the classroom versus, I don't know, hate speech scrawled on the side of a building," Schultz said. The faculty also expressed concern for student wellbeing. The American Association of University Professors, an institution devoted to advancing academic freedom, has launched an inquiry into the decision and is planning a campus visit next month. Ubah said that the Hamline administration had been consistently supportive of Muslim students, checking in throughout the crisis to make sure students were healthy and safe. Lpez Prater and her generation of scholars should be offered an opportunity to pursue their research and teach at a reasonable wage, with full academic freedom. Editors note: In light of reported harassment and threats directed at Hamline students featured in recent media coverage, Sahan Journal is using first names for students in this story. The month before, during an online lecture on Islamic art in the . Religious Diversity is My Day Job. Adjuncts like her are hired (and fired) on a semester-by-semester basis. He referred to it as a "crisis" to Hamlines reputation. Hamline is a small, private university with about 1,800 undergraduates. How fully am I really going to be participating in my classes without having to feel like someone is going to look at me in a certain way or perceive me in a certain way? she asked. Discover the best of San Martino di Lupari so you can plan your trip right. "Dr Prater was trying to emphasise a key principle of religious literacy: religions are not monolithic in nature, but rather, internally diverse," the group said. Get Sahan Journal stories delivered to your inbox. Miller did not immediately respond to a Sahan Journal request for comment on Tuesday afternoon. The national Cair organisation has said there was no evidence Prof Lopez Prater was acting with "Islamophobic intent.". The universitys president co-signed a statement saying that respect for the Muslim students in the online class should have superseded academic freedom.. Academic freedomand labor rightsare at stake. Even asking little things like getting to know their religion. A distinguished panel of educators discuss the recent events at Hamline University and suggest constructive ways for leaders in higher education and other sectors to navigate conflicts in a religiously diverse democracy. Old Main, Hamline University, St Paul, Minnesota, USA. 7.14.2023 4:00 AM, Emma Camp Contrary to what you may hear from these alarmists, what happened at Hamline does not represent sharia law coming to American universities. As we no longer have faith in President Millers ability to lead the university forward, we call upon her to immediately tender her resignation to the Hamline University Board of Trustees.. Class went off seemingly without a hitch, but later one student complained. Want more? He came to WCCO from WNBC-TV in New York City where he covered an array of stories for the station including the Coney Island plane crash, the crane collapse on the city's east side, 50 shots fired at motorist Sean Bell by New York Police, and a lacrosse team assault at Fairfield High School in Connecticut. The range of opinion highlights longstanding disagreements among Muslims over the sensitivity of depicting images of the Prophet.
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