University in MN fires adjunct art history professor for showing a painting of the Prophet Mohammed

[dotard]

Hamline University, a small (private) liberal arts school, recently decided to not renew an adjunct art history professor, Erika Lopez Prater's, contract for the spring semester. This is after she was reported to the administration after she showed a 14th century painting of the Prophet (that was commissioned by a Muslim King) in a lecture in October.

She wrote in the syllabus that this would happen and that anyone who had a religious objection should reach out so she could accommodate them. She also warned the class that she was going to show it and gave them time to leave the room.

However, a student stayed and then reported her.  As recently as last week the president of the school defended the decision and the MN branch of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) did as well. However, the national branch of CAIR put out an incredibly nuanced statement defending her.

https://twitter.com/CAIRNational/status/1613909463039348736?s=20&t=kDW_hAS-g...


Unfortunately she wasn't tenured and this is a private school so the first amendment doesn't really apply but it's crazy to me that she was fired over this. It's absolutely ridiculous this happened. She went out of her way to be respectful and some whiny little babies still got her fired.  

[Oppo]

Great monologue from Mehdi Hasan on this topic

https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1613002841978994694?s=46&t=2S_Mdt11_p...

[MasterJedi]

The people who will insist there is a difference between this and their desire to fire everyone who brings up gay/trans issues and actual racial history.

[NerdyBohemian]

This is the same exact thing as the “moral majority” of the Reagan years.

[dotard]

Here's the president's statement from last week BTW

[SWE]

The only response the university should have given was to reprimand the student for abusing their report system and give her a warning that religious bigotry has no place on their campus, and if they want to enforce their religious views on everyone else, they should go to a religious institution. This is absolutely pathetic

[Fuzzy Bear]

I'm sure they were fine with Robert Mapplethorpe's "Pi$$ Christ".

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them”.  This is the Second Commandment, and, yet, we see depictions of Christ (who is Fully God in Christian theology) all the time.  In works of cinema.  In paintings by the Great Masters. 

Islam, as a religion, is what it is.  Islamic students have a right to not be discriminated against, but they have no more right to be free from exposure to offensive thought than anything else.  I'm with Torie to the extent to where I can make a point by either offending, or not offending, I would prefer to "not offend".  That's not always possible, however.  This teacher should not have lost their adjunct faculty job over this, and the students complaining ought to be educated in the difference between concerns being legitimately addressed and using their status to obtained an undeserved veto power.

[Sic Semper Fascistis]

Here's the president's statement from last week BTW

This person should be fired just for using "begs the question" wrong. If even academics start making that mistake, we're truly lost.

Anyway, the whole "she wasn't fired, we just didn't renew her contract " bullsh*t just goes to show what the real problem is: namely that adjunctships have created an entire disposable underclass within academia. In that context, speaking of "academic freedom" is utterly meaningless.

[dotard]

Here's the president's statement from last week BTW

This person should be fired just for using "begs the question" wrong. If even academics start making that mistake, we're truly lost.

Anyway, the whole "she wasn't fired, we just didn't renew her contract " bullsh*t just goes to show what the real problem is: namely that adjunctships have created an entire disposable underclass within academia. In that context, speaking of "academic freedom" is utterly meaningless.

Thankfully she was able to find a position quickly for the spring semester but a lot of people wouldn't have been so lucky. So progressive to get a contract worker fired at the last minute.

[SWE]

A great detail in that idiotic statement is that they say part of the reason the student is "vulnerable" here (lmao) is that students lack tenure - in their justification for canning an untenured professor

[Torie]

Here's the president's statement from last week BTW

This person should be fired just for using "begs the question" wrong. If even academics start making that mistake, we're truly lost.

Anyway, the whole "she wasn't fired, we just didn't renew her contract " bullsh*t just goes to show what the real problem is: namely that adjunctships have created an entire disposable underclass within academia. In that context, speaking of "academic freedom" is utterly meaningless.

Pathetic isn't it? And any institution that hews to the notion that any acts or comments that upset some students and are not PC to boot, are beyond the pale, is an embarrassment.

And what the heck does the decision not to offer the teacher another course "was made at the unit level" mean? That the enforcers of the stricture not to upset some students was made at the mid management level, and not by the President?

The whole thing is obfuscating double speak. And how does one know where the red lines
are, and how and when they are enforced?

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

I'm sure they were fine with Robert Mapplethorpe's "Pi$$ Christ".

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them”.  This is the Second Commandment, and, yet, we see depictions of Christ (who is Fully God in Christian theology) all the time.  In works of cinema.  In paintings by the Great Masters. 

Islam, as a religion, is what it is.  Islamic students have a right to not be discriminated against, but they have no more right to be free from exposure to offensive thought than anything else.  I'm with Torie to the extent to where I can make a point by either offending, or not offending, I would prefer to "not offend".  That's not always possible, however.  This teacher should not have lost their adjunct faculty job over this, and the students complaining ought to be educated in the difference between concerns being legitimately addressed and using their status to obtained an undeserved veto power.

With all due respect to Mapplethorpe, Piss Christ (one of my favorite artworks) is by Andrés Serrano.

CAIR-MN (Council on American-Islamic Relations of Minnesota)‘s president has repeatedly expressed support for the student and called the showing of this painting “blasphemous” (the org also said some absolute bullsh**t about trigger warnings). CAIR national recently slapped him down and put out a lengthy statement in support of the professor. Mashallah the professor has a job at a new institution now, I believe.

https://twitter.com/ThomasReeseSJ/status/1613562254087127041?s=20&t=ffWrU86y...

https://twitter.com/CAIRNational/status/1613909463039348736?s=20&t=ffWrU86yU...

[DaleCooper]

A great detail in that idiotic statement is that they say part of the reason the student is "vulnerable" here (lmao) is that students lack tenure - in their justification for canning an untenured professor

Many Americans believe that college students are children, and most little private colleges like this tend to treat them like children. I think that's probably part of the appeal of a school like this. These progressive types are also obsessed with what they call power dynamics so they probably presume that every muslim in America is a marginalized voice and every "child" on their campus is faced with a horrible power imbalance whenever they're in the presence of a professor. If anything, as this incident shows, the student is much more powerful than the professors are. Just make up some lie about being mistreated (or better yet, abused!) and then the administration will bend over backwards to accommodate you.

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

The only response the university should have given was to reprimand the student for abusing their report system and give her a warning that religious bigotry has no place on their campus, and if they want to enforce their religious views on everyone else, they should go to a religious institution. This is absolutely pathetic

Technically this is a religious school, it's a Methodist one. Making this all the more silly.

Anyway the response here has been universally negative including from students from what I hear and even CAIR distanced themselves from it and said they don't agree. The university really stepped in it here and hopefully others take note.

[DaleCooper]

Technically this is a religious school, it's a Methodist one. Making this all the more silly.

It's likely just an old school that was Methodist when it was founded. I'd be shocked if there's anything particularly Christian about it now other than some old iconography in the architecture and a generically spiritual chapel service.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

This was definitely a setup - the professor's warning allowed the student to decide to stay in the classroom specifically so they could then demand the professor be fired.

[Where's the Epstein Client List?]

If a paint of Mohammed "triggers" you, then don't take the class.

If you have to take the class because you're an art history major, the fact that you're unwilling to look at any art that offends you is proof enough that you're not cut out to be an art historian and should major in something else.

[HisGrace]

I'm pretty sure there are all kinds of things being taught in colleges today that would offend evangelical Christians, just for one example, and yet nobody needs to get fired.

[Ferguson97]

Incredibly stupid to fire her.

[100% pro-choice no matter what]

This is the second time this has happened this week. WTF.

[Ferguson97]

This is the second time this has happened this week. WTF.

Wait, this is different from the story that was floating around in the news last week? There were two separate instances of this?

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

This is the second time this has happened this week. WTF.

Wait, this is different from the story that was floating around in the news last week? There were two separate instances of this?

No.

[100% pro-choice no matter what]

This is the second time this has happened this week. WTF.

Wait, this is different from the story that was floating around in the news last week? There were two separate instances of this?

No.

Oh so the firing was the same one? I stand corrected then.

[SWE]

This is the second time this has happened this week. WTF.

Wait, this is different from the story that was floating around in the news last week? There were two separate instances of this?

No.

Oh so the firing was the same one? I stand corrected then.

Two threads got made about the same event, the attention got renewed because the school put out a statement doubling down

[Zohran "The Sword of Islam" Mamdani]

How dumb do you have to be to not understand that nonrenewal of an employment contract is just as much an adverse employment action as a firing?