Dear university administrators – Never go full “Melissa Click”

Dear university administrators – Never go full “Melissa Click”

She’s not redheaded, and she didn’t demand some “muscle” to help her out.

But this American University official (not clear if administrator or Prof., or both) decided to play the role of Melissa Click, threatening to call the police on Washington Examiner reporter Ashe Schow and others who were covering the progressive outrage over the appearance of Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos.

Here is the Melissa Click of American University. We have much much more footage too. pic.twitter.com/C8cLY9U6Da

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) April 22, 2016

Reason reports, At Milo Yiannopoulos Protest, Prof’s Hassling of Journalists Backfires After She Calls Cops:

The Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow was at AU last night reporting on Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopolous’ visit to campus. (Schow tells me she was there on behalf of a forthcoming documentary, Thought Police, and was not representing The Examiner.) Yiannopoulos is a deliberately controversial figure, and his presence on campus prompted a student protest.

A female faculty member—now dubbed Melissa Click 2.0–tried to interfere, telling Schow and her camera crew that they were required to accompany her inside. They had to follow “certain regulations that the university is guided by” because AU is providing “a safe space for everybody who works or studies on this campus,” she claimed.

After the faculty member realized Schow’s group was recording her, she became hostile. “Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Seriously, I’m calling the police.”

The police didn’t immediately respond to her call. Later, when the cops did appear, the faculty member expected them to escort the journalists off campus. Instead, they wanted to have a chat with the faculty member, according to Breitbart News.

“The police came over and she thought they were going to save her but actually they escorted HER away,” Schow wrote on Twitter.

Lol the police came over and she thought they were going to save her but actually they escorted HER away https://t.co/eA1i1q1Her

— Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) April 22, 2016

https://twitter.com/hannahoh16/status/723329698684624897

Much to the disappointment of the progressives, the event took place anyway:

Milo Yiannopoulos, a controversial conservative speaker and technology editor at Breitbart, spoke Thursday to students at American University. Protesters assembled outside and claimed that Yiannopoulos represents hate speech against minority groups, particularly transgender people.

As Yiannopoulos began speaking, he explained that he would donate $20 to Donald J. Trump every time he’s interrupted.

Within the first minute, a protester with a sign stood up and was promptly removed by campus police. The sign read “Roses are red, violets are blue, Milo we’re too woke [sic] to tolerate you.”

As the protester was removed, Stephanie Black stood up at her seat with a sign that read “Hate Speech ≠ Free Speech.” She remained in place in silent protest for the entire event.

“I am all for free speech. I am. But there is an enormous difference between free speech and hate speech, and hate speech was only what Milo had to offer,” Black later told News2Share. “So I stood there, for nearly two hours, to show that his hateful rhetoric was not welcome on my campus and that I stand in solidarity with everyone whom he directed his hate to.”

As the Q&A came to a close, one man went to the microphone and asked, “How do you equate the Black Lives Matter movement with black supremacy?” Yiannopoulos supporters began yelling “Trump!” and “Black privilege!” as a shouting match ensued among various wings of the audience.

Language warning

…

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.