KANSAS CITY, Mo. ― The University of Missouri on Thursday fired an assistant professor who had been suspended after run-ins with student journalists during protests last year, including a videotaped confrontation where she called for “some muscle” to remove a videographer from the Columbia campus.
Melissa Click’s actions were “not compatible with university policies and did not meet expectations for a university faculty member,” Pam Henrickson, chairwoman of the university system’s governing board of curators, said during a conference call with other top administrators. Henrickson said Click’s conduct demanded “serious action.”
More than 100 state lawmakers had called for the dismissal of the 45-year-old assistant communications professor, who last October also was recorded telling police to get their hands off students during a protest, then hugging the students and cursing at an officer who grabbed her.
Click, who was suspended last month, has said she regretted her actions. A message left Thursday with her St. Louis attorney wasn’t returned, and her home telephone has been disconnected.
But in a document released Thursday by curators, Click insisted her actions were to try to keep Black protesters “safe from retaliation.” She said the widely circulated video clips of her at protests didn’t reflect the “tense” atmosphere.
“While some would judge me by a short portion of videotape, I do not think that this is a fair way to evaluate these events,” she wrote, adding that those moments “deserve to be understood in a wider frame of reference.”
Henrickson said lawmakers’ outrage had no bearing on the curators’ 4-2 vote to dismiss Click during a closed meeting Wednesday night. Henrickson, who along with fellow curator John Phillips cast a dissenting vote, declined to discuss her rationale, saying that she supports the board’s action.
