Additional support for our 10 January 2023 Letter
Dear President Fayneese S. Miller
President of Hamline University
As professors who teach subjects related to Islam, Muslim culture, and the Islamic world, we write to respectfully express our disagreement with your statement that respect for Muslim students “should have superseded academic freedom.” Some of us are practicing Muslims while others are secular Muslims, people from different religious backgrounds, or outright atheists. What unites us is our interest in Islamic theology, history, sociology, anthropology, art, mysticism, and poetry.
Professor Erika López Prater’s display of a 14th-century miniature of Prophet Muhammad was in no way disrespectful even to those Muslims who frown on such depictions. Of course, the prohibition of the portrayal of Prophet Muhammad is far from a universal Islamic injunction, as evidenced by the very image shown in this class. We believe that Hamline University ought to extend an apology to Professor Prater and indicate that she would be welcomed should she wish to return and teach at that institution.
We are united in the belief that images and materials that might be perceived as offensive to various creeds, ethnic groups, and nationalities could be shared in academic settings, where there is no intent to offend or harm anyone. In academia, we put even the offensive materials within a critical framework to understand why they were created and what function they performed or continue to perform within their socio-cultural settings.
Cordially,
Ervand Abrahamian, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Reza Afshari, Professor Emeritus, Pace University
Kazem Alamdari, Retired Professor, California State University, Northridge
Abbas Amanat, Professor Emeritus, Yale University
Hooshang Amirahmadi, Professor, Rutgers University
Touraj Atabaki, Senior Researcher, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam
Fakhreddin Azimi, Professor, University of Connecticut
Houchang Chehabi, Professor Emeritus, Boston University
Touraj Darayee, Professor, UC Irvine
Aria Fani, Assistant Professor, University of Washington
Mansour Farhang, Retired Professor, Bennington Colleg
Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Professor, Utrecht University
Mohammad Ali Kadivar, Assistant Professor, Boston College
Mohsen Kadivar, Professor, Duke University
Hossein Kamaly, Professor. Hartford international University for Religion and Peace
Mehrak Kamali-Sarvestani, Senior Lecturer, Ohio State University
Ranin Kazemi, Associate Professor, San Diego State University
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor, University of Maryland
Farhad Khosrokhavar, professor Emeritus, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris
Ali Akbar Mahdi, Professor Emeritus, Ohio Wesleyan University
Afshin Marashi, Professor, University of Oklahoma
Afshin Matin-asgari, Professor, California State University
Farzaneh Milani, Professor, University of Virginia
Mansoor Moaddel, Professor, University of Maryland
Mahmood Monshipouri, Professor, San Francisco State University
Valentine M. Moghadam, Professor, Northeastern University
Manijeh Moradian, Assistant Professor, Barnard College
Azar Nafisi, Retired Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Arash Naraghi, Associate Professor, Moravian University
Arzoo Osanloo, Professor, University of Washington
Misagh Parsa, Professor Emeritus, Dartmouth College
Ahmad Sadri, Professor, Lake Forest College
Mahmoud Sadri, Professor, Texas Woman’s University
Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Professor, Utrecht University
Sima Shakhsari, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
Fatemeh Shams, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Mona Tajali, Associate Professor, Agnes Scott College
Kamran Talattof, Professor, University of Arizona
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Professor, University of Toronto
Nayereh Tohidi, Professor Emerita, California State University, Northridge