The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) deplores Hamline University leadership’s continued misrepresentation of its 2022 violation of the principle of academic freedom.  In a response to a student complaint about faculty member Dr. Erika López Prater, who showed a fourteenth-century Islamic image of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on Islamic art (observing conventional best practices for handling controversial material in the classroom, including clear content warnings and options for students to opt out of the class session), the Hamline administration rescinded Dr. López Prater’s invitation to teach the next semester.  As indicated by the assessment of the national leadership of the AAUP, the evidence is overwhelming that there is a cause and effect relationship between the two events. This violation of academic freedom is made all the more appalling by the fact that the Hamline University administration exploited the contingent nature of the appointment in carrying out its actions without even the pretense of a discussion with the faculty member concerned.  The administration’s actions were widely denounced by faculty experts, including the entire tenure-stream faculty of the Art History Department of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, by our own AAUP chapter, and by the national leadership of the AAUP, the strongest and most credible organization for academic rights in the United States.  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, found “no evidence that Professor Erika López Prater acted with Islamophobic intent or engaged in conduct that meets our definition of Islamophobia,” and expressed confidence “that Hamline University and other schools can find a way to respect the sincerely held religious beliefs of students, treat faculty members fairly, and protect academic  freedom, all at the same time.”

Unfortunately, Hamline administrators have failed to learn from their mishandling of this case; rather than recommit to the principle of academic freedom, they have affirmed their disregard for it.  In the September 21, 2023, “Hamline President Goes on the Offensive” article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mark Berkson describes a session organized by the Hamline administration, “Academic Freedom and Cultural Perspectives: Challenges for Higher Ed Today and Tomorrow,” whose speakers—including Hamline President Fayneese Miller, Hamline chief diversity officer David Everett, and prominent figures Michael Eric Dyson, Tim Wise, and Robin DiAngelo—revealed their hostility toward and fundamental misunderstanding of academic freedom.  Berkson observed that speakers did not refer to the event that prompted the academic freedom controversy at Hamline, confused academic freedom with the different principle of free speech, and implied that academic freedom—the very bedrock principle upon which academic inquiry is based and is possible—constituted merely a cover for irresponsible or oppressive expression.  As was the case when Hamline first handled this case in 2022, the expertise and knowledge of faculty members in the field of art history was not considered or consulted in the formulation of the speakers’ perspectives, a disregard for the central role faculty play in higher education that chillingly resembles right-wing movements against universities across the country.

Hamline University administrators’ lack of understanding of the concept and importance of academic freedom disrupts the school’s educational mission and threatens the job security of Hamline faculty members, particularly those without the protections of tenure.  As faculty members at the University of Minnesota, a fellow institution in the Twin Cities area, we call on Hamline’s leadership to renounce its evident ideological commitment to undermining academic inquiry.  We also call on the leadership of the University of Minnesota to further affirm its commitment to defending the academic freedom of its faculty when it is similarly challenged.

Signed,

Sumanth Gopinath, President, AAUP-UMTC
Heather Holcombe, Vice President, AAUP-UMTC
Teri Caraway, Treasurer, AAUP-UMTC
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary, AAUP-UMTC
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large, AAUP-UMTC
Ruth Shaw, Member-at-Large, AAUP-UMTC