Hamline University’s free speech controversy shows the collapse of the professoriate

The recent controversy surrounding a Hamline University art history professor who showed her class a medieval image of the Prophet Muhammad has many on the right bemoaning the “woke mob” run amok. I, by contrast, view this episode as evidence of the collapse of the American professoriate from within its own ranks, so to speak. We, the professors, have met the enemy. In many instances, as I’ll explain below, the enemy is us.  

Let’s start with the dismal specifics of the case. Dr. Erika López Prater received her doctorate in 2019. Last fall, she taught a “World Art” class at Hamline. Her syllabus listed images of sacred subjects, such as the Buddha and the Prophet Muhammad. One of the two visual texts of the prophet she selected was “A Compendium of Chronicles,” attributed to Rashid-al-Din (1247-1318).