Hamline University is slammed for firing professor who showed image of the ... trends now
Hamline University has been eviscerated for pandering to students' whims and tossing out seasoned professionals by firing a professor for showing an image of the Prophet Muhammad in an online art history class.
Professor Erika Lopez Prater was fired by the university in Minnesota and had her class dubbed 'Islamophobic' in an astonishing rebuke after several students complained.
On October 6, Prater was teaching an online class about Islamic art that was part of a wider curriculum on world art. She chose a 14th-century depiction of the angel Gabriel delivering the Prophet's first revelation.
Conscious that in some branches of Islam it is blasphemous to look at any image of the Prophet, Professor Prater gave students two minutes to look away from the screen or log out before she projected the image onto her presentation.
Professor Erika Lopez Prater was fired by the university in Minnesota and had her class dubbed 'Islamophobic' in an astonishing rebuke after several students, including Aram Wedatalla (right) complained that she had shown a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in an art history class
Aram Wedatalla, a student who is also the president of the university's Muslim association, chose to remain online in the class. She then complained to school officials that the image 'blindsided' her and made her feel marginalized.
Despite being told by department head Allison Baker that she had done 'everything right', Prater was fired after more students - including some who were not in the class - complained.
I am offended as a Muslim. In choosing to label this image of Muhammad as Islamophobic, in endorsing the view that figurative representations of the Prophet are prohibited in Islam, Hamline has privileged a most extreme and conservative Muslim point of view
Professor Amna Khalid, who supports the fired Hamline professor
The students viewed it as a
