University of Missouri professor Melissa Click who famously called for “some muscle” to remove a student journalist from a campus protest was charged with assault on Monday and has now been suspended.
Reuters reports:
Missouri suspends professor who called for ‘muscle’ against student reporterA University of Missouri communications professor who called for “some muscle” to get a student journalist to back off during campus protests in November, was suspended by the school on Wednesday, days after she was charged with misdemeanor assault.The university’s board of curators said Melissa Click was suspended with pay pending further investigation and it ordered an investigation to determine promptly whether additional discipline would be appropriate.Click, an assistant professor in the university’s communications department, was charged on Monday by the Columbia, Missouri, city attorney. She could not immediately be reached for comment.She can be seen on a student journalist’s video calling on protesters during an anti-racism demonstration to remove the reporter and a student photographer from a spot in the school quad that demonstrators had claimed as private space.”Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here?” Click yells on camera. “I need some muscle over here.”Click’s hand can be seen blocking the video image at least twice. She issued an apology for her actions. The student journalist filed a complaint against Click with university police, whose reports were turned over to the city attorney.
It’s astonishing that Click has kept her job this long. In a time when the subject of assault on college campuses has reached fevered pitch, you would think students would protest for her dismissal.
Mizzou’s interim chancellor has been doing what he can to pick up the pieces.
FOX News reports:
Missouri chancellor presses to mend race relations on campusThe interim chancellor of a University of Missouri campus rocked by racial protests in November called that chapter painful Wednesday but declared the school’s push toward more inclusivity is a priority.Less than three months after taking the Columbia campus’ helm, Hank Foley said during his “State of the University” speech that addressing racial matters at the school “is the right thing to do.””One way to regard student unrest is a sign that the institution has not kept pace with change, especially with students’ and the public’s expectations,” Foley said. “The tension around race relations and the campus climate shows that we need to do more to be fully inclusive.”Foley said having the system’s troubles draw national scrutiny was difficult but added, “I’m asking our Mizzou family to come back together around a love for this great institution.”
Our higher education system really needs an overhaul.
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