Education

Mizzou Prof Charged With Assault For Incident During Protests

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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University of Missouri professor Melissa Click was charged with third degree assault Monday for calling for mob violence to remove a journalist during the November Missouri protests, ABC 17 KQFX reports.

The journalist, Mark Schierbecker, filmed Click calling for “muscle” to remove him from an area that anti-free speech protesters were attempting to blockade. The space was a public area where Schierbecker’s First Amendment rights allowed him to take video.

Click, a journalism and communications professor, shouted to a crowd of students around her, “Hey, who wants to help me get this reporter out of here?” Adding that she “need[s] some muscle over here.”

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After the incident and subsequent uproar, Click released an apology. “I regret the language and strategies I used, and sincerely apologize to the MU campus community, and journalists at large, for my behavior, and also for the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice. My actions were shaped by exasperation with a few spirited reporters.”

Click was also joined by her husband Richard “Chip” Callahan in the blockade to limit reporters’ access. It is unknown whether he will also be charged. (RELATED:Melissa Click’s Professor Husband Also Harassed Media At Mizzou)

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