Dear Mizzou: Melissa Click Isn't Going Away

Suspended Mizzou journalism assistant professor Melissa Click stars in a newly released video shot during the school's Homecoming Parade this past autumn. Video shows her screaming at a policeman to "Get your F-ing" hands off me!"

Context?

Protesters known as CS1950 stopped then Mizzou President Tim Wolfe's car during the parade, berated him, and actually bumped up against the vehicle to make it appear that his driver had hit them. This, even though the video clearly shows the car is standing still.

Insert police presence asking the rioters to move.
Insert Melissa Click defending the behavior of the students, and cursing the police.

Here's a link to the raw footage.
LINK

This newly released video actually predates the more famous video where she called for "Muscle" to remove a student journalist from the Quadrangle.

Here's the link to that raw video.
LINK

The timing of the new video's release is unfortunate for Click, as she recently hired a PR firm to rehabilitate her image, wrote an OP-ed for a Central Missouri newspaper containing a half-hearted apology, and threatened to sue the university for unfair treatment related to her suspension.

In that Op-ed she stated that the call for muscle to remove a student reporter was a momentary lapse of judgement in the heat of the moment. She stated that she had never been involved in anything like this before. Yet, here she is, screaming at an officer in a video that predates the one originally-released by a month.

Today, after viewing the video of Click cursing a cop, Interim Chancellor Hank Foley issued the following statement...

“Last night, like many in our community, I watched newly released footage of Dr. Melissa Click directing a verbal assault against members of the Columbia Police Department during the homecoming parade in October 2015. Her conduct and behavior are appalling, and I am not only disappointed, I am angry, that a member of our faculty acted this way. Her actions caught on camera last October, are just another example of a pattern of misconduct by Dr. Click—most notably, her assault on one of our students while seeking ‘muscle’ during a highly volatile situation on Carnahan Quadrangle in November. We must have high expectations of members of our community, and I will address these new revelations with the Board of Curators as they work to complete their own review of the matter.”

I find Foley's statement infantile in its willful ignorance.

Click should have been fired long ago. She physically assaulted a student reporter in a public venue The incident was captured on video, distributed over the web, and reported by all of the mainstream media outlets. I cannot imagine any other scenario where a faculty member could have assaulted a student, been arrested, and yet remained employed.

The reason the university did not fire her is that her unlawful behavior was in support of CS1950. Now the legislature has refused Mizzou's yearly request for a funding increase and this new video surfaces.

Foley's statement is too little, too late, The university will now move Click from a suspended status to "terminated." No matter, she will sue the university, be a featured guest on many political talk shows, and use her new victim status to rake in cold hard cash.

Meanwhile, the university is in a free fall, CS1950 has free rein, and many alumns, like me, will never give another dime to the administration that protected her idiotic behavior til the bitter end.