GOP Lawmakers Looking to Oust Mizzou Professor Who Called for 'Muscle'
“Anybody who saw that video… I can understand how completely unacceptable her behavior was."Remember the University of Missouri assistant professor caught on video calling for "muscle" to help her eject a student journalist from covering a campus protest there last November? Now more than 100 Republican state lawmakers are calling for her firing and that of a staff member who attempted to assist her.
According to USA Today, eighteen state senators and 99 House members signed letters to top administrators of the University of Missouri, charging that communication assistant professor Melissa Click "failed to meet the obligations she has to her supervisors, fellow professors, University students, and the taxpayers of Missouri" when she demonstrated her totalitarian attitude toward freedom of the press.
In that video taken at a protest sparked by black students' concerns that administrators weren't doing enough to address racism on campus, Click appears to grab at a camera carried by student journalist Mark Schierbecker and shouted for some "muscle" to help remove him from the site. Janna Basler, the university's assistant director of Greek Life, likewise appeared in the video to have physical contact with a student photographer at the same event.
The lawmakers wrote,
The fact that, as a professor teaching in the communication department and school of journalism, she displayed such a complete disregard for the First Amendment rights of reporters should be enough to question her competency and aptitude for her job. It should be evident that these actions are inappropriate, illegal and unacceptable for a faculty member of the University of Missouri.
In response the Republican lawmakers, colleagues supportive of Click released a letter on Tuesday that was sent to university officials last month, signed by more than 100 university faculty members. It noted that Click expressed remorse for her actions soon afterward, and insisted that her actions "constitute at most a regrettable mistake":
We believe that Click has been wronged in the media by those who have attacked her personally and have called for her dismissal. We affirm our support of her as a colleague, a teacher, and a scholar, and we call upon the University to defend her First Amendment rights of protest and her freedom to act as a private citizen.
But State Rep. Caleb Jones, a GOP lawmaker from Columbia, said that "It's imperative that the university act swiftly to remove her from her position."
Even Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, though he feels the letter is an attempt to "micromanage" the university, agrees that Click’s behavior was outrageous:
“Anybody who saw that video… I can understand how completely unacceptable her behavior was. The fact that people are upset, I’m okay with that."
Click, who does not have tenure, resigned her courtesy appointment in the journalism school the day after the incident but remains an assistant professor of communication at the university. According to a university bio, her "current research projects involve 50 Shades of Grey readers, the impact of social media in fans’ relationship with Lady Gaga, masculinity and male fans, messages about class and food in reality television programming, and messages about work in children's television programs."
About that, the lawmakers wrote, "While we recognize there may be some value in pop culture studies, her behavior has the public questioning her 'research' and her
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/gop-lawmakers-looking-oust-mizzou-professor-who-called-muscle
