Plus: A long and ugly saga at Hamline comes to an end. ADVERTISEMENT [The Review Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. As Artnet [reported]( last week, Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minn., has settled with former adjunct art history professor Erika López Prater, whose contract was not renewed after devout Muslim students complained about her showing an Islamic medieval devotional painting of the prophet Muhammad in October 2022. (For many Muslims, viewing images of Muhammad is forbidden.) Although the dollar amount is private, the settlement represents a defeat for Hamline, which evidently lacked confidence that it could prevail in court against Praterâs claim that she had been religiously discriminated against. As the judge who allowed the case to go forward wrote, Prater made a plausible case that Hamlineâs actions against her were âbecause she was not Muslim or did not conform to the religious beliefs held by some that viewing images of the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden.â Prater wasnât the only professor in 2022 to get into trouble over showing religious imagery of Muhammad. As our Emma Pettit [reported]( Maziar Behrooz, an associate professor of history at San Francisco State University, faced a formal investigation after a devout student complained about a drawing of the prophet that Behrooz had displayed during a course on Islamic civilization. âI was not prepared,â Behrooz said, âfor somebody to be offended, in a secular university, talking about history rather than religion.â Behrooz was ultimately cleared. But should he ever have been investigated in the first place? An [article]( by Bob Egelko from earlier this year in the San Francisco Chronicle sheds some light on how that investigation came about â and evokes some of the major fault lines within the administration. In 2021, Egelko reports, Heather Borlase was hired as SFSUâs civil-rights administrator, then fired the following year. Sheâs now suing the university. According to Borlase and her lawyers, she was fired for doing her job. University leaders, Borlaseâs lawyers say, were âmore interested in cover-up and hiding the problem of their failure and refusal to address discrimination, harassment, and retaliation complaints because of the negative press.â SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. Among other instances in which she says she was encouraged to cover up discrimination, Borlase names the Behrooz case. When her office decided to look into whether Behrooz had âprovocatively and gratuitously displayed a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad to students in his Islamic history class without warning,â Borlase says, she was explicitly discouraged by SFSUâs president. As Egelko summarizes the suitâs claims, âUniversity President Lynn Mahoney had pressured Borlase not to investigate, criticized her for doing so, and sent an email to the campus community saying the investigation interfered with academic freedom.â According to Borlaseâs lawyers, she was fired âfor her efforts to comply with â and ensure San Francisco State University complied with â the universityâs dutiesâ when it came to the Behrooz case. The broad lineaments of this conflict are familiar by now. There are echoes, for example, of the showdown between Jenny Martinez, at the time dean of Stanford Law School, and Tirien Steinbach, at the time Stanford Lawâs diversity dean, over Steinbachâs failure to quell â even her apparent encouragement of â student heckling of a conservative judge who had been invited to speak. In the face of Steinbachâs actions, Martinez scolded Steinbach (who no longer works at Stanford) and issued a [major statement]( on academic freedom. While the details are different, both Mahoneyâs quarrel with Borlase and Martinezâs with Steinbach are symptomatic of the last few years, in which competing factions of administrators battle it out over whether student sensitivity or academic freedom will prevail. ADVERTISEMENT Upcoming Workshop [The Chronicle's Crash Course in Academic Leadership | August 2024] If you’re curious about becoming an academic administrator, we’re once again offering The Chronicle’s Academic Leadership Crash Course, a four-hour virtual workshop designed for faculty aspiring to administrative roles. Join us in August to gain essential insights, practical tips, and valuable resources that will help you pursue your next professional step. [Learn more and register!]( The Latest THE REVIEW | OPINION [The Ruthless Politicization of Science Funding]( By Robert P. George and Anna I. Krylov [STORY IMAGE]( Ideological DEI mandates risk corrupting knowledge production at the root. ADVERTISEMENT [The Ruthless Politicization of Science Funding]( THE REVIEW | ESSAY [Why the Caregiving Crisis Is Driving Scholars Out of Higher Ed]( By Emily C. 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