The adjunct instructor, Dr. Erika López Prater, alleges in her lawsuit that university administrators, primarily vice president of inclusive excellence David Everett, knowingly and publicly defamed her by calling her actions “undeniably Islamophobic.”
At the time his November 7 email was sent, Everett and Hamline knew and recklessly disregarded the following facts: a) the images López Prater displayed were not created out of any prejudice toward Islam or Muslims; b) López Prater displayed the images for a proper educational purpose and within a proper artistic and historical context; c) López Prater did not display the paintings out of any prejudice toward Islam or Muslims; d) López Prater provided the students ample warning, both in her syllabus and during class, that the paintings would be shown, while explaining the educational purpose for doing so; and e) showing these images plainly fell within López Prater’s contractual right to academic freedom,” the lawsuit explains.
The lawsuit also reveals that López Prater informed her supervisor, Allison Baker, that she would be displaying the images. Her supervisor did not express any concern, the lawsuit says.
“López Prater also submitted the syllabus to Hamline. Hamline made no changes to López Prater’s statement and did not express any concern about López Prater displaying depictions of the Prophet Muhammad as part of the class,” the lawsuit adds.
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