Hamline University Fires Art History Professor Over Image Of Muhammad

ST. PAUL, MN — Activists are demanding that St. Paul's Hamline University reinstate an adjunct art history professor after she was fired for showing historic paintings of Muhammad — the founder of Islam — to students during class. The incident happened in the fall semester.

More than 13,100 people have signed a change.org petition that asks the Board of Trustees at Hamline University to "launch an independent, outside investigation into this series of incidents, above all the processes and mechanisms by which one of its faculty members was dismissed without access to due process."

"As these events also raise broader concerns related to freedom of speech and academic freedom, we also ask the Board to carefully assess the current state of faculty rights at the university," the petition adds.

In her syllabus, professor Erika López Prater reportedly warned that images of religious figures such as Muhammad and Buddha would be shown in her course. Many Muslims believe Muhammad should not be depicted.

López Prater asked students to contact her if they had concerns, but according to her, no one did, according to the New York Times.

On Oct. 6, López Prater showed a 14th-century and 16th-century painting of Muhammad.

Aram Wedatalla, a business major and president of the university’s Muslim Student Association, complained to the administration.

"I’m like, 'this can’t be real,'" Wedatalla told the Hamline student newspaper, The Oracle.

"As a Muslim, and a Black person, I don’t feel like I belong, and I don’t think I’ll ever belong in a community where they don’t value me as a member, and they don’t show the same respect that I show them."

Read more at the New York Times.