‘She Doesn’t Deserve It’: Student Activists and Faculty Members Object to Click’s Firing

Greg Kendall-Ball for The Chronicle

The University of Missouri’s decision to fire Melissa A. Click triggered strong objections from her faculty colleagues as well as students who had protested racism on the Columbia campus last fall, when she was caught on video in angry confrontations with a student journalist and a police officer.

Some called the decision overdue and said Ms. Click’s actions had sullied the university’s reputation. Others, including the student group Ms. Click was defending when the viral video was shot, accused the university’s Board of Curators of overstepping its authority and making her a scapegoat.

Members of Concerned Student 1950 accused the board of caving in to pressure from state lawmakers who had threatened to slash the flagship campus’s budget by the exact sum of the salaries of Ms. Click, an assistant professor of communication, the chair of her department, and the dean of the College of Arts and Science. The board, which voted 4 to 2 to fire Ms. Click, has denied it was influenced by that threat.

Turmoil at Mizzou

In 2015, student protests over race relations rocked the University of Missouri’s flagship campus, in Columbia, and spawned a wave of similar unrest at colleges across the country. Read more Chronicle coverage of the turmoil in Missouri and its aftermath.

• Students Should Feel Like ‘Equal Partners,’ Says New Diversity Officer
• Melissa Click, Professor Who Riled Free-Speech Advocates, Is Fired
• What It’s Like to Be Black at the U. of Missouri
• Thrust Into a National Debate on Race, 2 Missouri Chiefs Resign

“We are all really hurt that this had to happen to Melissa,” said DeShaunya Ware, a senior who was one of the original members of Concerned Student 1950. “She doesn’t deserve it.”

The message the firing sends, she said, is that “if you’re an ally helping protect black students while they are protesting structural and institutional racism on campus, this is what happens to you.”

Ms. Ware believes that Ms. Click became a scapegoat for legislators who were angry over black students’ demands and the national attention they were attracting as the activists made progress on some fronts.

The university made national headlines in November, when both the president and, by some accounts, the chancellor, were forced to step down in the wake of protests by Concerned Student 1950, other student activists, and the football team.

The video of Ms. Click calling for “some muscle” to remove a student journalist from a protest site was taken during the chaotic aftermath of those resignations.

Ms. Ware said the furor over Ms. Click had distracted attention from the problems of racial injustice that students and administrators have been working to overcome.

The student activists, who reissued their list of demands on Twitter on Wednesday, will continue to push the university to respond to each of them, Ms. Ware said.

Meanwhile, members of the Faculty Council who met with the university’s interim chancellor, Henry C. (Hank) Foley, after the board vote released a statement late Thursday saying that the firing “violates the norms of faculty governance” and that the board had denied Ms. Click her right to a fair hearing.

A professor emeritus of journalism studies at Mizzou said he understands the due-process argument, but he still believes she deserved to be fired.

“Melissa Click attempted to defend the civil rights of one group of students while violating the civil rights of another,” Brian S. Brooks wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “Then she compounded the problem by trying to incite a riot.”

Instead of trying to calm the situation, she made it worse, he wrote. “She was caught twice on video acting in a despicable manner.”

But to Ms. Click’s supporters, the board’s actions and the personal attacks against her are unfair. Debbie S. Dougherty, a professor of organizational communication, said the backlash had been “excruciating” for both Ms. Click and the department.

“We don’t all agree on what the outcome should be, but what we do think is that she’s been dehumanized in a way that’s shocking,” Ms. Dougherty said.

“I’m trying to help her process some of the emails she’s gotten from random people, and they’re vile,” Ms. Dougherty added. “Regardless of how you feel about her behavior, there’s no excuse for this kind of public crucifixion.”

Angela Speck, a professor of astrophysics and longtime colleague of Ms. Click’s, said she was particularly disturbed by the university system’s published statement saying in part that “Dr. Click was not entitled to interfere with the rights of others, to confront members of law enforcement, or to encourage potential physical intimidation” against a student.

“I’m sorry, but that’s terrifying,” said Ms. Speck, who serves on the Faculty Council. “The board does not have the right to tell us we cannot confront the police. In a situation where police are pushing, it’s not unreasonable to have words. This isn’t a police state.”

She added that Ms. Click had apologized for actions that the student journalist might have interpreted as intimidation.

“In the context of what was happening in that moment,” Ms. Speck said, “it was more about protecting than intimidating students.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.