Minnesota Professor Who Was Fired After Showing Images Of Muhammad During Class Sues University: Report

According to reports, a professor at Hamline University was fired for showing images of Muhammad in an art class. She is now suing the school.

Dr. Erika Prater, an art professor who was shown the images in a class on Islamic art and lost her job, filed the legal proceeding on Tuesday. according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

“Hamline’s actions and statements may have constituted religious discrimination, defamation, and other violations of law,” According to FOX 9, Prater’s attorneys said that they represented him.

“Hamline’s actions have caused significant damage to Dr. López Prater. In the near term, she has lost the income from her adjunct position. She alleges she also suffered significant emotional distress due to her mistreatment by Hamline,” They continued.

Prater distributed a syllabus for the fall class that warned students that the course would include images of religious figures, including Islam’s founder, Muhammad. According to reports, the instructor warned students just minutes before showing the images to make sure they didn’t leave the class.

As The Daily Wire stated previously reportedThe professor showed Two paintings, including a 14th-century famous painting depicting Muhammad and Gabriel, and a 16th century painting of Muhammad with a veil & halo.

Senior students in the course complained about the professor to school leaders who eventually decided to end their relationship with him.

“In lieu of this incident, it was decided it was best that this faculty member was no longer part of the Hamline community,” David Everett, Hamline’s associate vice president for inclusive excellence, told The Oracle.

“It is not our intent to place blame; rather, it is our intent to note that in the classroom incident — where an image forbidden for Muslims to look upon was projected on a screen and left for many minutes — respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom,” Fayneese Miller, president of Hamline University wrote Students receive a December newsletter.

Christiane Gruber, an Islamic art professor at the University of Michigan spoke out in support of the professor and started a Change.org campaign. petition to contact the instructor.

“Through conflation or confusion, Hamline has privileged an ultraconservative Muslim view on the subject that happens to coincide with the age-old Western cliche that Muslims are banned from viewing images of the prophet,” Gruber wrote.

Hamline was also contacted by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) to return Prater.

“An instructor’s right to navigate difficult material—like whether to display a historical painting of Muhammad when many Muslims believe Muhammad ‘should not be pictured in any way’—is well within Hamline’s commitment to protect academic speech that may ‘potentially be unpopular and unsettling,’” The instructor was supported by the organization.