A public university in one of America’s most progressive cities is facing a potential two-front legal battle over alleged First Amendment infringements involving Islam and gender identity.

San Francisco State University is at least the third college in recent months to take action against Muslim-commissioned depictions of the Prophet Muhammad following complaints by Muslim students, implicitly taking sides in a 1,400-year-old sectarian split that has also exhibited racial and ethnic fault lines.

History professor Maziar Behrooz, a 28-year veteran of SFSU, told The Chronicle of Higher Education he’s under investigation by the Office of Equity Programs and Compliance for showing his students the same depiction he has used in the Islamic history class for years.

[I say we nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. ~ Beege]