What did Erika Lopez Prater do? Petition in support of fired Hamline University professor receives more than 7,000 signatures

Erika Lopez Prater, a professor at Hamline University, was fired from the institution after she showed students medieval paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in a class about 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 of the Dismissed Hamline Instructor (Erika Lopez Prater) Wrongly Accused of Islamophobia." The petition has been addressed to Hamline University's board of trustees and as of writing, has garnered 7,289 signatures.

The petition stated:

"It is our understanding 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 shown in their online class."

According to a report published by The New York Times, the 42-year-old adjunct professor was let go from her job at the university even though she warned students ahead of her presentation about the 14th-century painting, along with other images of holy figures like the Buddha.

A blurred image of Prophet Muhammad, as shown in Lopez's class. (Image via @guru_soil/Twitter)

Reportedly, Prater announced the syllabus and asked students to contact her in case of concerns related to the course material, but no one did.

Before displaying the painting of Muhammad, Prater reportedly gave a two-minute warning to allow the attending students to leave the classroom if they felt it was against their faith.

As per the university's newspaper, Oracle, she said:

“I am showing you this image for a reason. And that is that there is this common thinking that Islam completely forbids, outright, any figurative depictions or any depictions of holy personages. While many Islamic cultures do strongly frown on this practice, I would like to remind you there is no one, monothetic Islamic culture.”

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Erika Lopez Prater showed the controversial imagery after multiple warnings

As per ArtNet, Erika Lopez Prater went ahead and showed a work of art featuring the archangel Gabriel, sharing his revelation with the Prophet from the Compendium of Chronicles, a 14th-century manuscript by Rashīd al-Dīn. She also showed a 16th-century painting where the prophet can be seen with a veil and halo, made by Mustafa ibn Vali.

However, the president of the university's Muslim Student Association and a senior student from the class, Aram Wedatalla, complained to Prater afterward. The professor apologized via email but Wedetalla took the matter to the university administration.

Aram was supported by other Muslim students who were not in class, arguing that Erika Lopez Prater's lesson was disrespectful, and this resulted in the professor not being welcomed back to the institution.

University President Faynese Miller issued a statement in December 2022 apologizing to the students for the incident and stated that it was more important for the authorities not to offend the beliefs of Muslim students than to have academic freedom.

The statement read:

“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."

They added that even though "academic freedom" is important, it does not need to be at the expense of decency and care toward others.