Attorneys for an adjunct art professor said Tuesday she is suing the Minnesota university that\u00a0dismissed her\u00a0after a Muslim student objected to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course, while the university admitted to a \u201cmisstep\u201d and plans to hold public conversations about academic freedom.
\nIn her lawsuit, Erika L\u00f3pez Prater alleges that Hamline University \u2014 a small, private school in St. Paul \u2014 subjected her to religious discrimination and defamation, and damaged her professional and personal reputation.
\n\u201cAmong other things, Hamline, through its administration, has referred to Dr. L\u00f3pez Prater\u2019s actions as \u2018undeniably Islamophobic,\u2019\u2033 her attorneys said in a statement. \u201cComments like these, which have now been published in news stories around the globe, will follow Dr. L\u00f3pez Prater throughout her career, potentially resulting in her inability to obtain a tenure track position at any institution of higher education.\u201d
\nIn Minnesota, a lawsuit can be started by serving a summons and a complaint to the party being sued. Attorneys for L\u00f3pez Prater said the lawsuit was served to Hamline University on Tuesday and will soon be filed in court.
\nHamline University President Fayneese Miller and Ellen Watters, the Board of Trustees chair, released a joint statement Tuesday saying recent \u201ccommunications, articles and opinion pieces\u201d have led the school to \u201creview and re-examine our actions.\u201d
\n\u201cLike all organizations, sometimes we misstep,\u201d the statement said. \u201cIn the interest of hearing from and supporting our Muslim students, language was used that does not reflect our sentiments on academic freedom. Based on all that we have learned, we have determined that our usage of the term \u2018Islamophobic\u2019 was therefore flawed.\u201d
\nThe statement did not address the lawsuit, but said the university strongly supports academic freedom, which should co-exist with support for students. The university plans to hold two public conversations in coming months, one on academic freedom and student care and another on academic freedom and religion.
\nLast October L\u00f3pez Prater showed the 14th-century painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a lesson on Islamic art. For many Muslims, visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad violate their faith, which L\u00f3pez Prater knew.
\nAccording to the lawsuit, L\u00f3pez Prater\u2019s course syllabus included a note that students would view images of religious figures, including the Prophet Muhammad. The syllabus also included an offer to work with students uncomfortable with viewing those images.
\nShe also warned the class immediately before showing the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. She said in media interviews last week that her goal was to teach students about the \u201crich diversity\u201d of attitudes toward such imagery.
\nL\u00f3pez Prater has said she and the department chair were discussing her teaching a new course, but after the student\u2019s complaint she was told \u201cher services were no longer needed.\u201d
\nHamline\u2019s president previously said the professor\u2019s contract was not renewed following the fall semester.
\nThe lawsuit alleges that instead of Hamline recognizing L\u00f3pez Prater showed the images with a proper academic purpose, the university chose to impose the student\u2019s religious view that no one should ever view images of the prophet on all other students and employees.
\nOn Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights organization for Muslims,\u00a0disputed the belief\u00a0that L\u00f3pez Prater\u2019s behavior was Islamophobic. The group said professors who analyze images of the Prophet Muhammad for academic purposes are not the same as \u201cIslamophobes who show such images to cause offense.\u201d
\nAt a news conference last week organized by supporters of L\u00f3pez Prater\u2019s firing, the student who filed the complaint said she had never seen a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad until the October class.
\n\u201cIt just breaks my heart that I have to stand here to tell people that something is Islamophobic and something actually hurts all of us, not only me,\u201d said Aram Wedatalla, president of Hamline\u2019s Muslim Student Association.<\/p>\n