Updated: 12:12 p.m.
Fayneese Miller, the Hamline University president who faced widespread criticism over her handling of a controversy involving an image of the Prophet Muhammad shown in an art history class, will retire at the end of June 2024, the school said Monday.
Miller had defended the St. Paul school’s decision last fall to not renew the contract of Erika López Prater. A student in López Prater’s class appealed to administrators after an image of a 14th century painting of the Prophet Muhammad was shown in class.
Many Muslims say viewing an image of the prophet is deeply offensive. Faculty members and others, however, pushed back against the decision, noting that the instructor had provided a warning to the class prior to showing the image. Hamline faculty in January called on Miller to resign.
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Fayneese Miller will step down next year as Hamline University president, the school said Monday.
Courtesy of Hamline University
As the story made headlines, the national Council on American-Islamic Relations said it saw “no evidence” that the instructor had bigoted intent or engaged in Islamophobic conduct in the classroom — undermining the positions of Miller and the Minnesota CAIR branch on the matter.
Hamline later acknowledged that its use of the term Islamophobic to describe the instructor’s actions was “flawed.”
A social psychologist by training, Miller was dean of the College of Education at the University of Vermont in 2015 when she was selected to be Hamline’s 20th president.
A statement from Hamline released Monday praised Miller for her fundraising and increase in enrollment seen during her eight-year tenure.
“It has been an honor and privilege to lead Hamline University, an institution that values social justice, equity, inclusion, and civic engagement through its service-learning opportunities for students and curriculum offerings,” Miller said in a statement.
The national CAIR chapter deputy executive director Edward Ahmed said they were “pleased” that Miller will serve another year.
“Although Hamline University erred in how it first publicly commented on last year’s painting controversy — as President Miller has since acknowledged — we have no doubt that she acted in good faith based on what she knew at the time and in a noble desire to protect her students. We thank her for her service, and we wish her well,” Ahmed said in a statement.
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