Missouri Professor Who Called for ‘Muscle’ Against Student Reporter Charged With Assault

A University of Missouri communications professor who called for “some muscle” to get a student journalist to back off during campus protests in November was charged on Monday with misdemeanor assault, prosecutors said.

Columbia City Prosecutor Stephen Richey’s office told the Herald that Melissa Click, a doctoral graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was charged yesterday with misdemeanor third-degree assault.

A Columbia Daily Tribune report noted that no warrant was made for Click’s arrest, but she will be issued a summons to appear in court.

Under fire, Click resigned her courtesy appointment with the journalism school the day after the incident but remains an assistant professor in the university’sDepartment of Communication.

Now the question is, will the university continue to employ her? Schierbecker’s video of his run-in with Click went viral, and he filed a complaint with university police.

Click has yet to comment on the charges, and as of Monday morning, it was unclear whether or not she has an attorney, according to the Tribune. No such crime exists, of course, but the offense strikes me as probably sufficient to cost Click her job.

Schierbecker also issued a statement saying what had happened to him is part of a broader problem journalists are facing on college campuses.

“This is a very bad situation for us all”, said Chancellor Hank Foley during a university news conference, as posted by Kansas City.com.

Click called for “some muscle” to help remove the videographer, Mark Schierbecker, from the protest area on the Columbia campus.

“Everyone is entitled to a fair process”, Trachtenberg said of Click’s future with the university.

But she retained her primary position at the school, though the UM Board of Curators called for her firing just last week.