Hamline University and Academic Freedom - Jan 14, 2023
The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) strongly endorses the January 6, 2023 statement from the national AAUP condemning Hamline University’s treatment of faculty member Dr. Erika López Prater, who showed a fourteenth-century Islamic image of the Prophet Muhammad in a class discussion on Islamic art. Dr. López Prater approached this sensitive material by following best practices of including content warnings and inviting students who might feel uncomfortable to abstain from viewing it. Hamline University administrators’ decision to cancel the course Dr. López Prater had been asked to teach in the spring was made in the absence of due process and violates the principle of academic freedom. The administration was empowered in this decision by Dr. López Prater’s precarious status as a contingent faculty member. The administration’s action thus serves as a reminder of the high stakes of the casualization of academic labor for the integrity of higher education as an enterprise. While some praise academic freedom when it is convenient to do so, Hamline’s treatment of Dr. López Prater illustrates the importance of strong measures for actually protecting it. Without protections for academic freedom, faculty cannot teach controversial topics without fearing for their jobs and their professional reputations. All faculty, whether in tenure-track or term positions, need such protections. As the University of Minnesota Art History Department states, "the blame for the mishandling [of this situation] falls entirely to Hamline's administration." We thus call on the Hamline administration to acknowledge this mishandling and to recommit to protecting academic freedom at Hamline University.
Many other organizations have also condemned the actions of the Hamline University administration and written statements to that effect. Some of these are listed at the end of this statement.
Sincerely,
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
Many other organizations have also condemned the actions of the Hamline University administration and written statements to that effect. Some of these are listed at the end of this statement.
Sincerely,
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
- The national organization of the American Association of University Professors
- The Hamline University chapter of the AAUP
- The tenure stream faculty of the University of Minnesota Department of Art History
- The national organization of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
- MESA (Middle East Studies Association)
- The Medieval Academy
- The National Coalition Against Censorship
- Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)