Respect for Muslim students ‘should have superseded academic freedom’ in class controversy: College president

Story by Jeffrey Clark 

The president of a small liberal arts college in Minnesota issued an apology for offending Muslim students after they were shown depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Hamline University in Minnesota is at the center of a religious firestorm after a professor shared “two depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in class,” according to The Oracle, Hamline’s student newspaper.

One of the paintings by medieval Islamic scholar Rashid al-Din showed Muhammad receiving divine revelation from the angel Gabriel.

But Hamline University President Fayneese Miller went viral on Twitter for her letter to the campus in December apologizing for the incident.

“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projected on a screen and left for many minutes—respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom.”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 acknowledged that many subjects contain controversial subject material but said that kindness for others was more important than academics.

“Academic freedom is very important, but it does not have to come at the expense of care and decency toward others.”

The professor who showed the medieval images of Muhammad was reportedly fired after students complained that any depictions of their prophet were disrespectful.

The incident occurred in a college class on “Islamic art.”

The president continued to argue to that “academic freedom” would not suffer, even after the decision to fire the professor.

“Our response to the classroom event does not disregard or minimize the importance of academic freedom,” Miller said. “It does state that respect, decency, and appreciation of religious and other differences should supersede when we know that what we teach will cause harm.”

Hamline University explained the controversy and the apology in comments to Fox Digital.

“Students do not relinquish their faith in the classroom. To look upon an image of the prophet Muhammad, for many Muslims, is against their faith. Questions about how best to discuss Islamic art have been raised by many academics and is certainly an issue worthy of debate and discussion. For those of us who have been entrusted with the responsibility of educating the next generation of leaders and engaged citizens, it was important that our Muslim students, as well as all other students, feel safe, supported, and respected both in and out of our classrooms.”

But the university also emphasized that it wanted to clear up any misunderstandings about the professor who was reportedly fired at Hamline.

“It is also important that we clarify that the adjunct instructor was teaching for the first time at Hamline, received an appointment letter for the fall semester, and taught the course until the end of the term,” the school said.

Fox News’ Jon Brown contributed to this report.