Courageous Hamline Professor Receives Award For Defending Colleague Fired for Picture of Muhammad

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Erika López Prater, an art history professor at Hamline University, lost her teaching position after showing images of the Prophet Muhammad in class.

While some faculty members and students called for Hamline to fire López Prater, professor of religion Mark Berkson defended the besieged professor in an essay published in The Oracle, Hamline’s student newspaper. For Berkson’s brave defense of academic freedom, FIRE presented him with the first-ever "Berkson Courageous Colleague Award" at this year's FIRE Faculty Network Conference.