Erika Lopez Prater Wiki, Biography
Erika López Prater, a professor at Hamline University, was fired from the institution after she showed students medieval paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on Islamic art. A Change.org petition was later launched in support of her.
On December 24, a person named Christiane Gruber started a petition in “Support Fired Hamline Instructor (Erika López Prater) Wrongly Accused of Islamophobia.” The petition has been addressed to the Hamline University board of trustees and, as of this writing, has garnered 7,289 signatures.
The petition said:
“We understand that Dr. López Prater noted in her syllabus that such images would be included in the course, that the visual exercise and discussion were optional, and that she gave verbal cues both before and after the image was displayed on her online course”. class.”
According to a report published by The New York Times, the 42-year-old adjunct professor was fired from her job at the university despite the fact that she warned students before her presentation about the 14th-century painting, along with other images of saints. figures like the Buddha.
Prater reportedly advertised her syllabus and asked students to contact her with concerns regarding course material, but no one did.
Before displaying the painting of Muhammad, Prater allegedly gave a two-minute warning to allow attending students to leave the classroom if they felt she was against her faith.
According to the university newspaper, Oracle, she said:
“I am showing you this image for a reason. And it is that there is this common thought that Islam completely, completely prohibits any figurative representation or any representation of holy characters. While many Islamic cultures strongly disapprove of this practice, I would like to remind you that there is no such thing as a monothetic Islamic culture.”
Erika López Prater showed the controversial images after multiple warnings
According to ArtNet, Erika Lopez Prater went ahead and showed off a piece of art featuring the archangel Gabriel, sharing revelation from him with the Prophet from the Compendium of Chronicles, a 14th-century manuscript by Rashīd al-Dīn. She also showed a painting from the 16th century where you can see the prophet with a veil and a halo, made by Mustafa ibn Vali.
However, the president of the university’s Muslim Students’ Association and a senior in the class, Aram Wedatalla, complained to Prater afterward. The professor apologized via email, but Wedetail took the matter up with the university administration.
Aram was supported by other Muslim students who were not in class, arguing that Erika López Prater’s lesson was disrespectful, and this resulted in the teacher not being welcome back to the institution.
The university’s president, Faynese Miller, issued a statement in December 2022 apologizing to the students for the incident, stating that it was more important for the authorities not to offend the beliefs of Muslim students than to have academic freedom.
The statement said:
“It is not our intention to blame; rather, it is our intention to point out that in the classroom incident, where an image prohibited for Muslims was projected on a screen and left for many minutes, respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have replaced freedom. academic”.
They added that while “academic freedom” is important, it need not come at the expense of decency and caring for others.
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