It didn’t end with the “muscle.”
The University of Missouri professor caught on camera calling for “muscle”to remove a student journalist from a protest continued harassing him for several minutes, and even boasted about her role as a media teacher, as seen in extended video of the infamous confrontation.
MO. STUDENTS, FACULTY SHOVED JOURNALISTS AWAY FROM TENT CITY
Assistant Professor Melissa Click earned national scorn Monday after a video showed her joining students in browbeating photographer Tim Tai, who was freelancing for ESPN to cover the racially-charged protests that led to school president Tim Wolfe stepping down.
Click is heard yelling with students for Tai to stop taking photos and step away from an encampment on school grounds. The protesters repeatedly push Tai as he tries explaining how the First Amendment works.
At the end of the video, another student reporter, Mark Schierbecker, tries talking to Click. She tells him to “get out,” hits his camera and yells: “Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here.”
Schierbecker posted a longer video Tuesday morning, showing that Click kept confronting him and rallying students against the media.
When Schierbecker reminds Click he’s filming on public property, the professor puts her hand over his lens and drops her voice to a mocking tone.
KING: UNIV. OF MISSOURI STUDENT’S PROTEST A HISTORIC VICTORY
“I know, that’s a really good one, I’m a communication faculty and I really get that argument, but you need to go,” she says.
As Schierbecker walks away, Click tells protesters: “Don’t let him back in.” He keeps filming from a distance as Click runs around the encampment, but near the end of the clip, she applauds a student for blocking Schierbecker from filming.
That stonewalling behavior spurred an apology issued by Mizzou’s Department of Communication on Click’s behalf, blaming her actions on a historic day “full of emotion and confusion.”
“I have reviewed and reflected upon the video of me that is circulating, and have written this statement to offer both apology and context for my actions,” Click explained. “I have reached out to the journalists involved to offer my sincere apologies and to express regret over my actions. I regret the language and strategies I used, and sincerely apologize to the MU campus community, and journalists at large, for my behavior, and also for the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice.”
Mizzou’s Department of Communication issued its own statement about the confrontation, saying it “supports the First Amendment as a fundamental right,” but would not be able to comment on personnel matters concerning school employees.
“We applaud student journalists who were working in a very trying atmosphere to report a significant story,” the statement reads. “Intimidation is never an acceptable form of communication.”
Click’s media-steeped background gives little clue as to how she became an apparent enemy of the free press. At Mizzou, she teaches media and pop culture, works with two student publications and has championed social media as a tool of civic discussion. Just days ago, she posted a plea on Facebook for “the national media” to cover the Mizzou protests.
After the video of her rants went viral, she made her Twitter account private and removed her photo from it. Her voicemail box was full Tuesday morning and she did not return requests for comment.
Mizzou Journalism School Dean David Kurpius slammed Click on Twitter, making sure his followers know she is not a part of his school.
“We stand by journalists and our students,” he wrote.
Click distanced herself from the Missouri School of Journalism Tuesday night by stepping down from a courtesy appointment — before an executive committee could vote on revoking her association.
“She’s not a bad person,” Kurpius told the Columbia Missourian Tuesday night. “She wanted to explain what happened. I thought it was very appropriate. She was intelligent and thoughtful and apologetic for many of the things that had happened.”
Click served as chair of the student publications committee, where she works with Maneater student newspaper and the Savitar yearbook.
It’s unclear how Monday’s events will shape her position with the Communications department. She has taught at Mizzou since 2003 and focuses her research on contemporary pop culture, often through a feminist lens, according to her academic bio. Her recent papers include studies of Lady Gaga, “Twilight,” “Fifty Shades of Grey” and Martha Stewart.
In an article for the school-runMissouriannewspaper last year about her GaGa studies, she commended the pop superstar for discussing teen bullying on social media.
“In a culture where bullying continues and suicide is the major cause of teen death, calling attention to the fact that difference can be positive and should be celebrated is important,” she said.
Click serves as chair of the student publications committee, where she works with Maneater student newspaper and the Savitar yearbook. Schierbecker, the student who filmed her, is a Maneater senior staff photographer.
Click’s CV lists several teaching awards, and she has a near-perfect 4.9 score on RateMyProfessor.
Concerned Student 1950 has made repeated calls for restricting media coverage of its public protests, which have earned national attention.The group tweeted Monday: “We ask for no media in the parameters so the place where people live, fellowship, & sleep can be protected from twisted insincere narratives”
With Nicole Hensley
