An American university is under fire from criticism after the dismissal this winter of a professor who showed images of the Prophet Muhammad in class, denouncing several associations an attack on academic freedom.
Hamline University, located in the state of Minnesota, in the northern United States, “admits not renewing the contract of an art history professor last semester after a complaint by a Muslim student,” said the freedom group FIRE civilians in a January 4 statement. complaint to a United States board of higher education.
In fact, the student had considered as an attack on her religious beliefs the fact that her teacher “shows in class, optionally, a 14th-century painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad as part of a discussion on Islamic art,” she continued. the organization. Islam, in its strict interpretation, prohibits any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
Lots of warnings issued to students.
Such dismissal is “a clear violation” of the university’s rules that “commit it to guarantee freedom of expression and its corollary, academic freedom,” added the FIRE association.
Erika López Prater, an interim professor who also showed another image of the prophet during her online course in October, had previously issued numerous warnings to her students asking them to leave the session if they wished, several US media reported.
Accused of Islamophobia by the university, the professor apologized after the fact. In vain. “Respect for students observing the Muslim faith in this class should have trumped academic freedom,” Hamline University President Fayneese Miller said in an email quoted by the New York Times.
“There is no guarantee of academic freedom”
“If an art history professor cannot show college students an essential piece of art for fear that the students or offended group will get her fired, then there is no guarantee of academic freedom at this institution and no commitment to higher education”, he reacted for his part. the Academic Freedom Alliance in a letter to the university, dated early January, demanding the immediate reinstatement of Erika López Prater.
A Change.org petition supporting the academic and demanding an investigation has collected more than 7,600 signatures as of December 24.
On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty, a professor of history and geography in Val-d’Oise, was stabbed and then beheaded near his college by an 18-year-old radicalized youth, who accused him of showing cartoons in class. of Muhammad.
Source: BFM TV
