Hamline University under fire for art professor’s dismissal

By KATHLEEN FOODY
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A Minnesota university’s dismissal of a professor for including depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a global art course has put the small, private school at the center of a debate over how to include controversial material in college courses while respecting students’ personal relationship to the material. The conflict began in October when adjunct professor Erika López Prater included a 14th-century painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a lesson on Islamic art. A Muslim student in the class complained to the university. The professor’s contract was not renewed for the following semester. Hamline’s president has defended the decision.