Minnesota university fires art professor for showing painting of Muhammad deemed 'Islamophobic'
A Minnesota university finds itself the subject of a complaint after firing a professor for showing a painting of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as part of an art history class discussion.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, formerly known as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), filed a complaint against Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, to the Higher Learning Commission last week. In the complaint, the advocacy organization maintained that the institution is “not in compliance with HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation section 2.D., requiring the institution to be ‘committed to academic freedom and freedom of expression in the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning.”
“Hamline admits that it non-renewed an art history instructor last semester after a Muslim student complained that, during a discussion about Islamic art, the instructor facilitated an optional, in-class viewing of a renowned 14th century painting depicting the [Islamic] prophet Muhammad, which the student said offended her religious beliefs,” the complaint explained.
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According to the complaint, “Such nonrenewal violates both HLC and Hamline policies clearly committing the university to free expression and its corollary, academic freedom for all faculty, with Hamline claiming it ‘is committed to academic freedom and celebrates free expression for everyone.’” Alex Morey, FIRE’s director of Campus Rights Advocacy, urged the HLC to “hold Hamline accountable” for violating Standard 2.D.
FIRE’s complaint to the HLC followed an unsuccessful attempt to convince Hamline to “immediately reinstate the instructor and reaffirm its commitment to academic freedom” in a Dec. 27 letter. Rather than reinstate the instructor as requested, Hamline President Fayneese Miller sent an email defending the university’s decision to fire the academic, obtained by Alpha News.
“To look upon an image of the prophet Muhammad, for many Muslims, is against their faith,” she wrote. “For those of us who have been entrusted with the responsibility of educating the next generation of leaders and engaged citizens, it was important that our Muslim students, as well as all other students, feel safe, supported, and respected both in and out of our classrooms.”
Miller described the termination of the unnamed instructor as an effort to address students’ “expressed concerns” about the portrait's display in class. She insisted that “Contrary to what has been reported and become the story,” the “adjunct instructor was teaching for the first time at Hamline, received an appointment letter for the fall semester, and taught the course until the end of the term.” She concluded the email by thanking the Hamline community for their efforts to make the school “a supportive and welcoming space for all.”
FIRE Program Officer Sabrina Conza issued a statement in response to the filing of the complaint, suggesting that “Hamline clearly doesn’t understand what academic freedom means, even though it explicitly promises faculty this core right.” According to Conza, “Hamline has no right to dismiss an art history instructor for teaching art history.”
FIRE's statement concluded with a form letter that supporters could send to Miller demanding the art history teacher’s reinstatement. The letter includes a quote by FIRE stating that “blanket bans on displaying pedagogically relevant material are not acceptable at a university that commits to academic freedom.” It also warned that the instructor’s dismissal will “create a chilling effect among all faculty, who may now choose to censor important aspects of their teaching and deprive students of the rigorous, liberal education the university promises.”
Additionally, more than 300 current and former professors representing institutions of higher education worldwide, including 12 from Hamline University, wrote a letter to the school’s leadership backing FIRE’s call for the teacher’s reinstatement. The letter expressed concern that Miller and Hamline Vice President for Inclusive Excellence, David Everett, asserted in an email that “respect for observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom.”
The professors also noted that the syllabus for the art history course made it clear that viewing the painting was optional and condemned Everett’s description of the course exercise as “undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
