Hamline University

next few days, while the Dean of Students classified the professor's teaching as "an act of intolerance", President Fayneese Miller cautioned all Hamline employees that "respect for the observant Muslim students should have superseded academic freedom."
Academics criticized Hamline's approach to academic freedom and their understanding of Islam as a monolith which was uniformly condemning the paintings, ignoring that Muslim rulers commissioned them; art historians characterized the paintings to be an indispensable component of any lesson on Islamic art history. Free speech groups have taken a similar stance—PEN America labeled the termination as "one of the most egregious violations of academic freedom in recent memory." Scholars have also highlighted how the increasing commercialization of higher education with little security for adjunct faculties allowed for such firings. In addition, prominent Muslim advocacy organizations, including the Council on American–Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs …