AAUP releases report on former professor Melissa Click’s termination
The American Association of University Professors released its report into former assistant professor Melissa Click’s termination Thursday.
The 19-page report looks into the University’s decision to fire Click after November protests on campus.
On February 25, the UM Board of Curators voted to dismiss Click. The decision came after video surfaced showing Click confronting a journalist during protests.
The report says the AAUP investigating committee is not convinced Click’s actions were adequate grounds for her dismissal. The report also says the curators violated basic principles of academic due process by denying Click an adjudicative hearing of record before a duly constituted faculty body.
The report goes on, saying there is reason to suspect that grounds other than Click’s actions were the real cause of her dismissal. It alleges that academic freedom and shared governance at MU are endangered.
AAUP investigators visited Columbia back in March to meet with Click, administrators, Board members and faculty leaders.
At its meeting in June the AAUP’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure will decide whether or not to recommend the association censure the MU administration.
