More than 100 Republican lawmakers in the Missouri House and Senate are calling for the firing of a University of Missouri assistant professor after she was caught on camera attempting to intimidate a student journalist in November.
Melissa Click, an assistant communications professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, was caught on camera at a campus protest in November trying to remove a student reporter on assignment for ESPN from public property who was trying to cover the protests.
According to Fox News, the incident came as students protested the racial climate on campus an reacted to the resignation of the university's President Tim M. Wolfe. Click caught on video yelled out after a student reporter Tim Tai refused to leave the campus protest. She called for "muscle" to help her remove the student journalist from the protest site.
The confrontation video went viral and drew nearly 3 million views. It ignited a nationwide debate on the First Amandment.
Click already apologized and resigned from a courtesy appointment at the Missouri School of Journalism, but she remains employed as an assistant professor of mass media at the university's school of communications.
Police at the university told CNN on Tuesday that it had not yet decided whether to file charges against Click.
But eighteen state senators and 99 House members have signed letters to top administrators of the University of Missouri System, charging that Melissa Click failed to meet the obligations she has to her supervisors, fellow professors, university students, and the taxpayers of Missouri, USA Today reported.
In addition, the senators also called for the firing of the university's assistant director of Greek Life Janna Basler, who appears in the confrontation video to have physical contact with a student photographer.
A GOP lawmaker from Columbia, State Republican Caleb Jones, said that he and colleagues began gathering signatures last month but decided to to make their effort public on Monday after gaining support from more than 100 lawmakers.
The Republican lawmakers wrote that the fact that Click had displayed such a complete disregard for the First Amandment rights of reporters should be enough to question her competency and aptitude for her job. The lawmakers wrote that Click's actions were inapropriate, illegal and unacceptable for a faculty member of the University Missouri.
In the letter, the lawmakers also questioned Click's taxpayer-funded research into "50 Shades of Grey," Lady Gaga and "Twilight."
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, said he doesn't agree with the letter as it attempts to "micromanage" the university. But he agrees that Click's actions were inapropriate.
