University president will retire after defending move to fire professor who showed prophet Muhammad in class
ST. PAUL, Minn. (TND) — The president of a Minnesota university mired in controversy over its firing of a liberal arts professor has decided to retire.
Dr. Fayneese Miller has announced her retirement, according to a release from Hamline University. She will retireon June 30, 2024.
It has been an honor and privilege to lead Hamline University, an institution that values social justice, equity, inclusion, and civic engagement through its service-learning opportunities for students and curriculum offerings," Miller says in her retirement announcement. "I am proud that Hamline recently received significant federal funding and targeted increased private donations to support paid internships which will afford widespread opportunity for Hamline students for paid real-world employment experiences."
It has been a pleasure working together with board members, students, faculty, staff, and the community in enhancing Hamline University's strong commitment to maintaining high academic standards, creating a sense of belonging for all on campus, and developing students who understand and appreciate their role as members of a civil society," Miller added.
Miller was the 20th president of Hamline University, only the second female president and first president of color, according to the university.
Among Miller's accolades, provided in her university's news release, is that she "oversaw enrollment of Hamline’s largest first-year class in its history (2019)" and "guided university through COVID-19 pandemic with no cuts to faculty or class offerings."
Hamline University became the center of national attention whenadjunct professor Erika López Prater lost her job. Prater was firedafter featuring depictions of the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad, despite her class being focused on Islamic art, according to the New York Times.
Miller wrote a letter to students apologizing for the incident, according to the New York Post.In it, Miller said that "respect" for Muslim students should have been more important to Prater.
It is not our intent to place blame; rather, it is our intent to note that in the classroom incident—where an image forbidden for Muslims to look upon was projected on a screen and left for many minutes—respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom," Miller reportedly said in the letter.
The university reportedly debated over whether Prater's actions constituted a "hate crime," but later decided that it was instead an "act of intolerance." Prater's termination has caused some critics to call the university's administration "shameful."
In January, a strong majority of full-time faculty members at the university issued a vote of no confidence against Miller, according to the New York Times. Only a dozen full-time faculty members reportedly voted the other direction.
The statement reportedly said that the university's administration did "great harm" to the institution with how it handled Prater's termination and the subsequent controversy.
Eventually, as the New York Times reports, Hamline University walked back some of its statements, including that Prater was "Islamophobic" and that it prioritized caring for its student's feelings over education.
Like all organizations, sometimes we misstep,” the statement, signed by Miller, reportedly said. “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 ‘Islamophobic’ was therefore flawed.
When The National Desk asked Hamline University about Miller's decision to retire, a spokesperson declined to comment beyond the news release.
Prater reportedly preemptively placed warnings inside her course syllabus that the class would feature images of certain religious figures like Buddha and Muhammad. Students were asked by Prater to contact her with any concerns, but the New York Times reported that none of them did so.
Despite Prater's efforts and warnings, a senior named Aram Wedatalla joined her class and went to administrators to complain about the professor's choice to display images of the prophet Muhammad, according to the school newspaper.
At the time, Wedatalla was president of the Muslim Student Association at Hamline University, and also reportedly gathered support from other Muslim students on campus about the issue, regardless of whether those students were taking Prater's class or not.
Prater reportedly apologized to Wedatalla that the images of Muhammad "made [her] uncomfortable and caused [her] emotional agitation," but reiterated that the class had already been warned about the images.
The school's newspaper, The Oracle, says it obtained a copy of that email and a recording of Prater's class that day, which was originally broadcast as a Google Meet online class that included a Powerpoint presentation. Prater reportedly shows her class two images of the prophet Muhammad during that online lecture.
Since the incident and her termination, Prater hasfiled a lawsuit alleging defamation and religious discrimination. Prater says Hamline's actions have caused her a loss in income, and that the university's decisions have damaged both her job prospects and professional reputation.