University of Missouri Professor Apologizes After Clash With Media

In a statement, Click issued and apology for the actions depicted on the video, which has garnered national attention and gone viral with nearly two million views on Wednesday morning. He said that rights of protesters are just as important when confronting injustice and in democratic engagement as journalists.

The story involves the failure of administrators, a student on day 6 of a hunger strike, and creative, fearless students.

“Journalism is for the people, so they can be free and self-governing”, Johnathan Thomas explained. They did so with words of warning, with implied menace; even, in a few cases, shoving reporters away from a campus quad where they had every right to operate. Then again, you expect college students to make mistakes during their years on campus. It’s part of the point of coming to campus.

Kurpius advised students to take advantage of the lessons from influential journalists recognized at the Missouri Honor Medal ceremony last month who worked toward the cause of diversity.

You don’t expect people holding positions of authority to make those same mistakes. And report there too. “Journalism School faculty members are taking immediate action to review that appointment”, he said. “You need to back off”, she told him, flanked by student protesters. “It doesn’t threaten anybody else because if it’s a single-stall bathroom; you should be in there alone”.

Tai stood his ground, reminding the crowd of his First Amendment right to photograph on a public space.

A faculty member, later caught on that same video, repeatedly sought to banish a videographer who lingered behind a wall of students and finally called out for backup. She said, “Hey, who wants to help me get this reporter out of here!”

And the woman in the right of the photo below is allegedly Assistant Professor of Mass Media Melissa Click, according to CNN’s Dylan Byers. She studies television and pop culture and presumably along the way acquired a few understanding of the press. The activist group Concerned Student 1950 has protested what they say is a racially insensitive environment at the University of Missouri, which led to the resignation of school president Tim Wolfe on Monday.

“I support the students who are still camping out and fighting for racial justice on campus”, Elisa Glick, an associate professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, told Reuters in an email. “And I think we have a lot of work to do”.

Missouri’s journalism school executive committee said in a statement that the video showed that its student journalists “acted professionally when faced with a hard scenario”, noted the Missourian.

“The First Amendment protects your right to be here and mine”, Tai can be seen telling a protester in the video.

The Department of Communication also issued its own statement Tuesday, condemning intimidation of journalists but declining to comment on Click’s status.

“No, I don’t”, Schierbecker said, prompting Click to grab his camera and shake it.

It’s taken too long for the university to respond. But I’m open to the argument.

“What is missing is that there’s freedom of speech, there’s freedom of assembly, there’s freedom of religion and there’s freedom to address grievances against the government, the one that nobody ever seems to remember”, Kurpius said.

Toward the end of the afternoon, an olive branch emerged – a new note circulated on campus by a leading protest group and posted widely on social media.