{"id":84280,"date":"2023-01-19T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=84280"},"modified":"2023-01-19T06:39:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T12:39:17","slug":"flailing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=84280","title":{"rendered":"Flailing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hamline University &#8211; my neighbor here in the MIdway, a university with almost as much hamfisted woke cred as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1395\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1395\">Saint Thomas<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=78050\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"78050\">Macalester<\/a>, recently fired an art professor for showing an artistic representation of Mohammed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a quick rundown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>L\u00f3pez Prater, an adjunct professor,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/17\/us\/hamline-lawsuit-prophet-muhammad-religion.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">showed a picture<\/a>&nbsp;of the Prophet Muhammad in an art history class-causing an uproar back in October. Since, many Muslims viewing visual representations of the prophet are prohibited, some thought the professor\u2019s actions as highly \u201cIslamaphobic\u201d. Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Muslim students express concerns over course content\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WnbH7YogP1U?start=1&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Despite a \u201ctrigger warning\u201d, it appears the student was triggered when Dr. L\u00f3pez Prater, showed the classroom a medieval depiction of Muhammad, an \u201c<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2022\/12\/26\/hamline-university-apparently-fires-art-history-lecturer-for-showing-depictions-of-muhammed\/\" target=\"_blank\">incident of hate and discrimination<\/a><em>\u201c, apparently. Hell, even the university\u2019s\u00a0associate vice president of inclusive excellence\u00a0(AVPIE) found it to be \u201c<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/newlinesmag.com\/argument\/academic-is-fired-over-a-medieval-painting-of-the-prophet-muhammad\/\" target=\"_blank\">undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic<\/a><em>\u201c.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It sent the message for all to hear: &#8220;triggered students are more important than academic, or really all, freedom.&#8221;   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The story got some national play &#8211; which couldn&#8217;t have helped the struggling little university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, Hamline&#8217;s concern for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=25020\">diversity of academic opinion<\/a>, or for that matter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=808\">the less fashionable consitutional rights<\/a>, is just as dismal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But let&#8217;s stick with today&#8217;s controversy.    Hamline is trying to back-track.  Ellen Watters, chair of Hamline&#8217;s board of trustees, wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In 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&#8230;It was never our intent to suggest that academic freedom is of lower concern or value than our students \u2014 care does not \u2018supersede\u2019 academic freedom, the two coexist.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>But it may be too late.  <a href=\"https:\/\/victorygirlsblog.com\/hamline-university-walks-back-claims-professor-sues\/\">Lopez Prater has filed suit<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The lawsuit filed on behalf of L\u00f3pez Prate states the professor suffered loss of income from her adjunct position, emotional distress and damage to her professional reputation and job prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Redden, a lawyer for Dr. L\u00f3pez Prater, says the university\u2019s change of heart on the \u201cislamaphobia\u201d accusations does not change the lawsuit and that he, and his client, will pursue legal action against the university.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And other academics have risen to the defense&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The tenure-stream faculty of the Department of Art History at the University of Minnesota writes to address the recent non-renewal of adjunct instructor, Dr. Erika L\u00f3pez Prater, from her term appointment at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tAswVeLtt2\">https:\/\/t.co\/tAswVeLtt2<\/a><\/p>&mdash; UMN Department of Art History (@umn_arthistory) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/umn_arthistory\/status\/1614008134971924480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;of their fellow academic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the good news is, even some academics have reached a point where they won&#8217;t spontaneously erupt into a Maoist struggle session on command.  Provided it&#8217;s <em>their <\/em>freedom at stake.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a tiny, tiny start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hamline University &#8211; my neighbor here in the MIdway, a university with almost as much hamfisted woke cred as Saint Thomas and Macalester, recently fired an art professor for showing an artistic representation of Mohammed. Here&#8217;s a quick rundown: L\u00f3pez Prater, an adjunct professor,&nbsp;showed a picture&nbsp;of the Prophet Muhammad in an art history class-causing an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,18,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-pc","category-western-civilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84282,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84280\/revisions\/84282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}