ST. PAUL, Minn. – Faculty voted 71-19 for Hamline University President Fayneese Miller to resign immediately. Miller has been under fire after the contract of a part-time instructor was not renewed after showing depictions of the prophet Muhammad in an art history class. Among some Moslems, it’s heresy to portray their holy leader from 1,700 years ago visually. A Moslem student later objected that the artwork violated her religious beliefs. Then the instructor, Erika Lopez Prater, was told by a university administrator that she wouldn’t be hired again. The issue for Hamline Faculty Council was whether the academic freedom of Prater had been violated. Meanwhile, the American Association of University Professors, which champions academic freedom causes, is sending investigators to campus. AAUP blacklists colleges that run roughshod over the academic freedom of faculty.
Verbatim
Faculty Council: “We are distressed that members of the administration have mishandled this issue and great harm has been done to the reputation of Minnesota’s oldest university. As we no longer have faith in President Miller’s ability to lead the university forward, we call upon her to immediately tender her resignation.”
Miller. Hamline president since 2015. First African-American to hold the position.