Student journalism and cowardice 1


You may have heard about Hamline University’s recent outrageous action. Not everyone has, though, and there’s been misinformation going around, so let me start by summarizing it. A lecturer (not a professor), in a course on art history, devoted a session to Islamic art. Aware that some Muslims regard it as improper to portray Muhammad visually, he informed the class that he would be presenting such an image, a classic Islamic work from the 14th century, and gave people a chance to leave before showing the picture. A student complained anyway. The university announced that it would not renew the untenured lecturer’s contract, so strictly speaking, it didn’t fire the lecturer. The action, however, was intended as punishment for violating Islamic law. Hamline is a Methodist school, not an Islamic one, in Minnesota.

Since this is at least nominally a blog on writing, my focus won’t be on the university’s vile action, but on what played out at the Hamline Oracle, a student news publication. I suspect they took the actions they did under extreme pressure from the administration, but their rolling over as they did was an act of gross cowardice regardless.

14th century Islamic art showing Muhammad receiving Quranic revelation from the angel Gabriel

Initially, the Oracle published a statement by Mark Berkson, the chair of the Department of Religion, defending the lecturer. In this statement he wrote, “I believe that, in the context of an art history classroom, showing an Islamic representation of the Prophet Muhammad, a painting that was done to honor Muhammad and depict an important historical moment, is not an example of Islamophobia. Labeling it this way is not only inaccurate but also takes our attention off of real examples of bigotry and hate.”

The Oracle subsequently removed the article from its website. It posted an attempt at an explanation for its reversal.

The first sentence claims that “The Oracle is Hamline’s independent, student-run newspaper.” (Ironic emphasis added) It follows with nearly incomprehensible statements such as “It is not a publication’s job to challenge or define sensitive experiences or trauma” and “Trauma and lived experiences are not open for debate.” This seems to say that if someone makes an accusation that involves “sensitive experiences or trauma,” a publication must neither dispute the assertion nor offer the person accused any opportunity for defense. It’s lynch-mob thinking elevated to a principle.

If the editors believed that, though, would they have run the defense in the first place? It seems more likely that someone put pressure on them after seeing the article and they caved in. It could be the administration. Hamline president Fayneese Miller infamously decreed that “respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom.” Perhaps someone in the administration told the Oracle it supersedes journalistic freedom as well. Other possibilities are that the editors received a threat of violence, or that they received a threat of having the epithet “Islamophobic” hurled at them. The last possibility is pathetic, but threats of smears work on some people.

Facing intimidation can be difficult for student journalists whose first concern is to graduate. Sometimes they have to give in with whatever dignity they can save. The editors of the Oracle, though, took the most cowardly, sniveling, crawling way: they told the public that it’s wrong to come to the defense of someone accused of inflicting “trauma” and “lived experiences” or even to let someone else offer a defense. They may get their degrees, but I hope they have enough integrity left to stay far away from journalism as a way to earn a living.

If they were genuinely afraid of the consequences of not pulling the article, they could have removed it with a brief note saying it was run “by error.” That would be pathetic, but less so. Or they could have resigned from the Oracle, saying it was no longer possible to do their job.

The best answer might have been to drop out of Hamline. A “liberal arts” school where religious law supersedes academic and journalistic freedom isn’t worth getting a degree from.

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