Student protest group defends suspended teacher, criticizes UM system
The student group that led protests on Mizzou’s campus in November said an MU professor served as an “ally who supported historically marginalized students.”
Concerned Student 1950 released a letter via Twitter Thursday night on the Um Board of Curators decision the night before. The Board of Curators suspended Dr. Melissa Click Wednesday night after the Columbia city prosecutor charged her with third-degree assault for an altercation with a journalist at the November 9 protest on Carnahan Quad. Board chairwoman Pam Henrickson said Wednesday that the UM System would conduct its own investigation into the issue to decide if any further punishment was warranted.
The letter said Dr. Click became “the victim of social and political violence” after the November 9 video of her calling for “muscle” to remove MU student Mark Schierbecker from the protest space on campus that Concerned Student 1950 staged in November. The group also criticized the UM System for focusing on her, rather than addressing the demands they set forth for a more racially-equal campus and administration.
“The University of Missouri System is devoting time to tarnishing Click’s career instead of dismantling the oppressive RACIST social system it perpetuates,” the letter said, emphasis its own.
The ouster of then-UM System President Tim Wolfe was one of the group’s chief demands, followed by a more inclusive process of selecting the next president between students, staff and faculty of diverse backgrounds. UM System spokesman John Fougere said the board would finalize the process of selecting the new president at its February 4 and 5 meetings.
