Student Who Filmed Melissa Click Asks Lawmakers Not to Misuse His Video

Mark Schierbecker, the University of Missouri student who videotaped an assistant professor calling for “some muscle” to keep student journalists from filming a protest, has asked lawmakers to stop using his video, and the incident, as an excuse to cut the university’s budget, the Columbia Daily Tribune reports.

On November 9 the assistant professor of communication, Melissa A. Click, demanded that student journalists keep away from a student protest over racial inequity on the Columbia campus, held shortly after senior leaders resigned. Mr. Schierbecker filmed her saying “Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here?” Ms. Click has since been suspended, but the video has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.8 million times. More than 100 lawmakers signed a letter asking that Ms. Click be fired.

“They are using my video as an excuse for the budget cuts they already wanted to make. I think they do want her fired, just on a human level, but it has only been politically possible to cut funding because of this video,” Mr. Schierbecker told the Tribune.