A great deal of national attention has been focused on the dispute at Hamline University over the school's refusal to renew the contract of adjunct Art History faculty member Erika Lopez Prater. A Muslim student (who was also president of the Muslim Student Association) complained to University administrators that in an online class on Islamic art Prater displayed slides of two classic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad. Because of the complaint, the University informed Prater that the class she had been scheduled to teach the following semester has been cancelled. Last week, Prater filed suit against the University in a Minnesota trial court. The complaint (full text) in Prater v. Trustees of Hamline University of Minnesota, (MN Dist. Ct., filed 1/17/2023) alleges religious discrimination, defamation, breach of contract as well as several other causes of action. It alleges in part:
Instead of recognizing that López Prater had displayed the images of the Prophet Muhammad for a proper academic purpose, Hamline decided to impose [the Muslim student's] interpretation of Islam on all Hamline employees and students....
[University Vice President] Everett engaged in libel on Hamline’s behalf, publicly defaming López Prater via email to all Hamline employees and students. The email ... states in relevant part:
Several weeks ago, Hamline administration was made aware of an incident that occurred in an online class. Certain actions taken in that class were undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic....
In a January 13 statement, the University released a statement saying in part:
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. We strongly support academic freedom for all members of the Hamline community. We also believe that academic freedom and support for students can and should co-exist. How this duality is exemplified on our campuses, especially in the current multicultural environment in which we live, is an exciting, robust, and honest conversation for academics, intellectuals, students, and the public to have.
[Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw for the lead.]
