Hamline students react
36 students answered The Oracle’s online poll to discuss their opinions in the aftermath of the classroom incident.
February 14, 2023
Over four months have passed since the incident in Erika López Prater’s classroom. After weeks of near-silence on campus, the story exploded into national news over the winter break and now Hamline faces a lawsuit from Lopez Prater and a discussion about the future of the current administration.
Although The Oracle has had the opportunity to share some of the diverse perspectives on this issue through letters we have received, polling lets us listen to how students think and feel individually without requiring them to be organized or outspoken.
The poll consisted of eight statements and asked students to respond on an “agree/disagree” scale with a few opportunities to include an explanation. Respondents were required to provide a Hamline student email address, but all identifying information was removed from their responses.
36 students have responded. These are their answers.
Q. I have been following the news about the classroom incident.
91.7% of responding students agreed.
Q. An email from David Everett, Hamline’s Assistant Vice President of Inclusive Excellence, described Lopez Prater’s actions as “undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic.”
I agree with Everett’s statement about the classroom incident.
52.8% of responding students disagreed with this statement, with 30.6% saying that they “strongly disagree.” Still, responses were more varied for this statement than for any other.
Q. Hamline supports its students.
50% of responding students disagreed with this statement, with 44.4% of those saying that they “somewhat disagree.” Another 36.1% said they felt “neutral” about this statement. Just 13.9% of respondents agreed that Hamline supports its students.
Hamline supports its professors.
69.5% of responding students disagreed with this statement.
President Miller should resign.
58.4% of responding students agreed with this statement, and 30.6% said they felt “neutral.”
This question also included a space for students to explain their response. There was a lot to say.
“She has been here for me and my fellow students when we are hurt. She is fighting for us and reassuring us that Hamline is a home for Muslims as well,” said one student who “strongly disagreed” with the statement.
Many students who agreed with the statement also saw good intentions behind Miller’s conduct.
“While being vocally supportive of Muslim students, her conduct (public statements to media) has undeniably created more controversy, and has overall harmed our community more than it has helped,” said another student who “strongly agreed.”
Many students who didn’t feel so strongly about the classroom incident still used this space to address their frustration with Miller’s other actions.
“She should not resign for protecting Muslim students. She should resign for her statement in the fall,” said a student who felt “neutral.”
Q. I’m worried about how people off-campus are responding to this situation.
80.5% of responding students agreed with this statement.
Most respondents mentioned fear from the hateful, threatening messages that have been sent to several of the students named in previous coverage of the classroom incident. Others talked about the impact on the image of the school itself.
“People either view this incident as proof that Hamline does not support academic freedom (and that Hamline students are getting subpar education as a result) or that Hamline does not support its Muslim students/faculty/community members,” said a student who “somewhat agreed.”
“Neither image is very appealing, and neither represents my personal beliefs.”
Q. I’m worried about how this will affect my education at Hamline.
58.4% of responding students agreed.
Students discussed their concerns about the value of a degree from Hamline—both from the unknown damages to the university’s reputation and the more concrete threat to its accreditation.
“It sullies the reputation of the campus,” said a student who “strongly agreed.”
“As a graduating senior, it’s the last thing I want to talk about in a job interview.”
Katherine • Feb 14, 2023 at 7:12 pm
While it may be considered by the Oracle’s Editor or its Administration to be insightful to write about 36 replies to an on campus survey, surely that number represents less than 2% of the students enrolled at Hamline. Therefore, I ask, is this a valid survey? Do you not have on campus a sociology professor you can consult with regarding what makes a survey valid? Or, a math and statistics professor who can review and authenticate such a survey?
Providing opinions in an article from both sides of the aisle as an investigative reporter is fine. But if a survey or a poll is referred to, we the reader need to know how many were asked to take part in it at least, perhaps what year they are in college, which major they have, other demographics and it needs to have more than 2% responding. Unfortunately, I must also question if all enrolled students were made aware of it from how the article was written. Sampling and proper parameters of any survey are very important.
The idea and topic are great. Please, however, update the article once you have a sufficient number of replies to constitute it being a valid survey. If it already is a valid survey, then we must be told how many individuals were surveyed and why it was limited to that number. Thank you.
Alicia • Feb 16, 2023 at 11:00 am
When people say something that isn’t agreeable, or, we or don’t like, there is still a kernel of truth that can be garnered from what they have said or written. We could say, ‘they only interviewed 36 people, so this survey is invalid’, or we could say ‘there are 36 people out of the entire population who are unhappy,’ so what does this mean for the rest of the population?
Some would argue that it doesn’t take a full survey of all the students to paint a picture of what is going on at Hamline. From the get-go, this situation was dealt with improperly, by both the administration, the offended party, and even a representative from the Muslim council, who publicly cried that Miss Lopez was ‘islamaphobic’.
Which, “The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) a public affairs non-profit focused on increasing understanding of Muslims, also released a statement this week supporting Lopez Prater’s decision.
“Even if it is the case that many Muslims feel uncomfortable with such depictions, Dr. Prater was trying to emphasize a key principle of religious literacy: Religions are not monolithic in nature, but rather, internally diverse,” reads the statement (Marohn et Moini, 2023).
Sources:
MPR News Article by Kirsti Marohn and Nino Moini dated January 13, 2023.
Fearful Hamline Student • Feb 14, 2023 at 2:08 pm
I never saw this poll or got a chance to respond, but put me in as one more “strongly agree”