A video showing a photographer's clash with University of Missouri protesters who tried to block his access in a public section of campus is fanning debate about freedom of the press.(Photo: AP)
A University of Missouri assistant professor who has faced an avalanche of criticism after she was caught on video calling for "some muscle" to help her eject<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a student journalist at a protest site on campus has been<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suspended from her duties, the University of Missouri System Board of Curators announced Wednesday.
The decision to suspend Melissa Click<span style="color: Red;">*</span>came two days after the Columbia, Mo. city prosecutor's office announced it had filed a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>misdemeanor simple assault charge against the department of communication professor. The charge relates to the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nov. 9 incident<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on campus<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that captured national attention.
“MU Professor Melissa Click is suspended pending further investigation," said Pam Henrickson, chairwoman of the Board of Curators, which governs the four University of Missouri campuses. "The Board of Curators directs the General Counsel, or outside counsel selected by General Counsel, to immediately conduct an investigation and collaborate with the city attorney and promptly report back to the Board so it may determine whether additional discipline is appropriate.”
Click<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was filmed having physical contact and berating a student journalist who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was trying to conduct interviews at a campsite set up on the university's flagship campus in Columbia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by students protesting the treatment of African Americans by administrators.
A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>video of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>confrontation, which was taken by student<span style="color: Red;">*</span>journalist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mark Schierbecker and went viral on the Internet,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>begins with a group of protesters yelling and pushing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>another student<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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.
Click, who will continue to be paid during her suspension, was at the protest site as an ally of the activist group Concerned Student 1950, which organized<span style="color: Red;">*</span>weeks of protests on campus. Those protests<span style="color: Red;">*</span>culminated with the University of Missouri system president and the chancellor of the university's Columbia campus resigning their posts.
For more than two months, officials at the university refused to comment about Click's status at Missouri. Earlier this month, more than 100 GOP state lawmakers called on the university and the Board of Curators to fire Click, who is in the process of applying for tenure at the university.
David Steelman, a member of the Board of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Curators, told USA TODAY earlier this month that he wanted Click fired and was unhappy with how administrators at the Columbia campus were dealing with the issue.
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GOP lawmakers call for firing of Mizzou professor who called for 'muscle'
Following the announcement of the charge against Click on Monday, interim chancellor Hank Foley apologized to Schierbecker but said the university planned on allowing the tenure process to unfold normally for Click.
"When we deviate from such time-honored traditions at the university, as some have called for, we tend to make mistakes, and it often leads to turmoil," Foley said.
Click and Christian Basi, a spokesman at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the flagship university campus, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday evening.
Follow USA TODAY correspondent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Aamer Madhani on Twitter:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@AamerISmad
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