Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | January 20, 2023 — Freedom of expression is one of the founding principles of our nation, without which we cannot grow and improve as a society. One of the most important institutions in which this principle is expressed is the university.

Over the last two weeks, we have seen two highly accomplished individuals denied their rightful place in the nation’s institutions of higher learning. Last week, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) expressed its deep concern over the effective firing of an art professor, Erika López Prater, from Hamline University, for showing a fourteenth-century painting of the Prophet Muhammad to her class. We reaffirm our support for Dr. López Prater’s right to show the painting and call upon Hamline University to restore her to her teaching position.

Just as depictions of the Prophet become lightning rods of controversy and debates about free speech, so too does another long-standing source of controversy in academic and public debate: criticism of Israel.

Around the same time that Hamline University moved to restrict academic freedom, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center denied a fellowship to former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth. This denial was not due to his qualifications for the fellowship, which are stellar, but rather, due to Mr. Roth’s critical stance towards the government of Israel.

Whereas we must condemn and fight against Islamophobia and antisemitism at every turn, we must not weaponize them to silence political rivals or violate core democratic principles. This will have the effect of diluting our capacity to fight against hate in our midst.

Click here to read our full statement.

Salam Al-Marayati

President, MPAC

David Myers

Distinguished Professor and Sady & Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History, UCLA
Director, UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy
Director, UCLA Initiative to Study Hate