The University of Missouri announced on Thursday it has voted to fire professor Melissa Click.
Click, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, attracted nationwide attention after she was caught on video calling for "muscle" to help her eject a student journalist from a protest site on campus last November. Click faced further scrutiny after the Columbia, Mo. Police Department released video from a separate October protest on campus in which Click can be seen cursing at a cop who is trying to clear a roadway on campus after Click and a group of student demonstrators locked arms to block a road during the university's homecoming parade in October.
The University of Missouri Board of Curators system said it voted 4-2 for the firing of Click.
"The board believes that Dr. Click’s conduct was not compatible with university policies and did not meet expectations for a university faculty member," Pam Henrickson, president of University of Missouri system Board of Curators. "The circumstances surrounding Dr. Click’s behavior, both at a protest in October when she tried to interfere with police officers who were carrying out their duties, and at a rally in November, when she interfered with members of the media and students who were exercising their rights in a public space and called for intimidation against one of our students, we believe demands serious action. "
Click was filmed having physical contact and berating a student journalist who was trying to conduct interviews at a campsite set up on the university's flagship campus in Columbia by students protesting the treatment of African Americans by administrators.
A video of the confrontation, which was taken by student journalist Mark Schierbecker and went viral on the Internet, begins with a group of protesters yelling and pushing another student journalist, Tim Tai, who was trying to photograph the campsite. At the end of the video, Schierbecker approaches Click, who calls for "some muscle" to remove him from the protest area. She then appears to grab at Schierbecker's camera.
Henrickson said Click has the right to appeal her firing.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/university-of-missouri-fires-professor-melissa-click/ar-BBq0td4?ocid=spartandhp
