Professor lost job after showing class a painting of Prophet Muhammad, lawsuit says

An adjunct art history professor showed her class a painting of the Prophet Muhammad — the revered, central religious figure of the Islamic faith — and said she later lost her job teaching at the Minnesota university.

Now she’s suing Hamline University in Saint Paul after her actions in class were labeled “undeniably Islamophobic” by the university’s administration in a November email, according to her attorneys.

While Erika López Prater knew beforehand that some Muslims, “though not all,” are against creating and viewing art depicting the Prophet Muhammad, she informed students enrolled in her class in advance that such art would be shown and invited them to express any concerns they may have, according to her lawsuit.

After López Prater showed two paintings of the prophet, including one created in 1307 that was commissioned by a Sunni Muslim King in Iran, during an online class in October, a Muslim student complained to the university, a lawsuit that will be filed in Ramsey County District Court states.

With her lawsuit, López Prater is accusing the university of engaging in religious discrimination and defamation directly affecting her professional reputation, her attorneys said in a Jan. 18 news release. The Hamline University Board of Trustees is named as the defendant in the case.

McClatchy News contacted the university’s president for comment regarding the lawsuit on Jan. 18 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

In a statement on Jan. 13, the Hamline University Board of Trustees said it is “involved in reviewing the university’s policies and responses to recent student concerns and subsequent faculty concerns about academic freedom.”

Hamline University President Fayneese Miller said in a statement that López Prater was not fired or dismissed and did not “lose her job.”

“The adjunct taught the class to the end of the term, when she, like all other faculty, completed the term requirements, and posted her grades. The decision not to offer her another class was made at the unit level and in no way reflects on her ability to adequately teach the class.”

Miller and the chair of its Board of Trustees, Ellen Watters, said in a statement provided to the Associated Press that characterizing López Prater’s actions as “Islamophobic” was “flawed.”

“Like all organizations, sometimes we misstep,” the statement said, according to the outlet.

López Prater’s “dismissal from Hamline has garnered significant attention given its implications for academic freedom at Hamline and universities around the country and all over the world,” her attorneys said in a statement.

“What has not been discussed, however, is how Hamline’s actions and statements may have constituted religious discrimination, defamation, and other violations of law,” they added.

Before the lawsuit was initiated, the Council on American-Islamic Relations commented on López Prater’s classroom lesson given the “controversy” that has followed.

“Although we strongly discourage showing visual depictions of the Prophet, we recognize that professors who analyze ancient paintings for an academic purpose are not the same as Islamophobes who show such images to cause offense,” the Jan. 13 statement said.

“We see no evidence that Professor Erika López Prater acted with Islamophobic intent or engaged in conduct that meets our definition of Islamophobia,” the statement continued. “Academics should not be condemned as bigots without evidence or lose their positions without justification.”

More on the case

In June 2022, López Prater says she was hired by Hamline University to teach a world art class that fall.

Her course syllabus, which the university was made aware of, according to the complaint, stated in part that:

“This course will introduce students to several religious traditions and the visual cultures they have produced historically. This includes showing and discussing both representational and non-representational depictions of holy figures (for example, the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, and the Buddha). If you have any questions or concerns about either missing class for a religious observance or the visual content that will be presented, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

Although she provided her students with the opportunity to raise concerns, “none did,” the complaint states.

Before she showed images of the Prophet Muhammad, López Prater was asked to teach an art class in the spring of 2023, according to the complaint.

However, this offer would later be rescinded following her online class held on Oct. 6, when she showed paintings depicting the Prophet Muhammad. University administration said it would “no longer be able to offer the contemporary art history class online” as previously discussed.

López Prater maintains she showed the paintings for purely educational purposes to highlight “the varied historical ways in which the art of Islam has chosen to represent holy personages,” the complaint states.

Ultimately, one of her students, the president of the university’s Muslim student association, expressed her “outrage” over the images of the prophet and complained to the university, according to the complaint.

Days later, López Prater was pushed by the university to apologize to her class following further “outcry” from the college’s Muslim community and was later told that the class she was scheduled to teach was being canceled and that her contract was not being renewed, the complaint states.

On Nov. 7, the university’s associate vice president of inclusive excellence, David Everett, is accused of publicly defaming her with his email sent to students and staff, according to the complaint.

The email said that the actions in López Prater’s online class “were undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic,” the complaint states.

“While Everett’s email did not name López Prater, it was obvious from recent events that López Prater was the target of Everett’s libelous email,” the lawsuit argues.

University accused of religious discrimination and defamation

The lawsuit argues that by failing to renew López Prater’s contract for the spring of 2023 and canceling her class, Hamline University engaged in religious discrimination.

The university expected López Prater to “conform to the specific beliefs of a Muslim sect that believes it is forbidden to portray the image of Muhammad,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit has also argued López Prater was made into a “pariah” and has been defamed since the October class.

In regards to the university’s prior characterization of her actions as “Islamophobic,” her attorneys said “comments like these, which have now been published in news stories around the globe, will follow (her) throughout her career, potentially resulting in her inability to obtain a tenure track position at any institution of higher education.”

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