The University of Missouri assistant professor who sparked nationwide controversy for yelling at a student reporter is in the spotlight and raising ethical questions yet again.

Assistant communications professor Melissa Click can be seen on a recently released Columbia Police Department video cursing at a cop who is attempting to clear a road for cars during the Mizzou homecoming parade in October. The footage was taken with two cops’ body cameras.

The footage, first published by the Columbia Missourian, shows Click as a part of a group of student demonstrators who were linked arms blocking the road. The cop can be seen trying to usher the group off of the road and onto the sidewalk in order to allow the parade to continue.

In November, Click, a communications teacher, was captured on video calling for a student journalist to be ejected from a protest site on campus. She requested “some muscle” to help her kick the student out. This incident caused many to call for her dismissal from the university.

So why are her actions especially troublesome and still being talked about now?

Well, what is increasingly frustrating while watching the 12-minute video from November is that the protest as a whole was completely overshadowed by the actions of the professor and the students that she didn’t wish to correct. Instead of a commendable peaceful protest being documented and praised, that message was lost in the actions of few.

Click, while not the center of the entire video, played a vital role in the fact that she did not aid the student reporters by allowing them to do their job. She of all people should have been able to understand their rights just as she understood the rights of the protesters.

All of a sudden the possible headline of “Peaceful Activists Protest for Black Lives Matter Movement,” turned into “Professor Needs Muscle to Block Student Journalists.” And that is really a shame.

The lack of trust of the media is understandable, but should you really shut out someone for trying to accurately document your protest just because they are a journalist? Is it worth the negative backlash from the country just to push a student reporter around whose ‘agenda’ is just to take photos from the event? Not only did the actions of those shown in the video hinder their cause, but it shed such a poor light on the university and the protesters, when it didn’t have to.

What is even more of a shame is the lack of understanding of basic rights. Students were screaming that the photographer, Tim Tai, had to back up and could not legally be there and photograph the event. He was surrounded and barricaded from what was going on and at times pushed by protesters. The right that the students were citing as to why they should be left alone to protest is the same right that allows the journalists to be there documenting what is going on. In addition, they were in public space–which grants the photographer and videographer the right to document freely.

What strikes me most are the ethical dilemmas that come with this debate. As a teacher who is up for tenure, a heavily sought-after academic position, Click will surely be hearing about these two incidents during her deliberations. I hope the board members ask themselves, can she be an effective communications professor if she has gotten herself into these communications conundrums? How can she teach a topic that she herself doesn’t seem to have mastered in her practice? It is certainly hard to support her in her communications endeavors when she curses at cops and calls for the obstruction of the media from a protest on public property.

Check out the November incident in full below (I highly recommend watching the entire video):

And check out the video of the October incident below:

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A controversial new bill that would have banned Missouri student athletes from striking was abruptly withdrawn Wednesday after public backlash called the restrictive legislation unconstitutional.

Republican state Representative Rick Brattin withdrew the bill (without comment) that he and co-sponsor state Representative Kurt Bahr had submitted Friday. If approved, the legislation would have revoked a scholarship from any student athlete that “calls, incites, supports, or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game.”

The proposal was in direct response to a massive strike at the University of Missouri, where over 30 football players refused to participate in any football activities until the university’s System President Tim Wolfe resigned. Wolfe had been deemed unfit by students after mishandling a series of racist incidents on campus.

The team arrived at the decision to strike after graduate student Jonathan Butler’s life-threatening hunger strike failed to provoke any action from the university. On November 7, Sophomore safety Anthony Sherrils announced the strike on Twitter in a message that read,

The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere’ We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experiences. WE ARE UNITED

We’re black. Black is powerful. Our struggle may look different, but we are all #ConcernedStudent1950 pic.twitter.com/obCjSWCFVY

— HeMadeAKing (@1Sherrils_2MIZZ) November 8, 2015

Three days later Wolfe resigned, and as a result the team did not miss a scheduled a game.

Bahr told the Kansas City Star that the incident prompted him to re-examine the relationship between student-athletes and the universities where they play. Bahr said,

Kansas State Rep. Brandon Ellington, however, disagreed. The Democratic legislative black caucus chair said in a statement to the AP, “this unconstitutional legislation never should have been filed in the first place.” Ellington also applauded Brattin’s decision to withdraw the bill saying,

Seeking to punish those who peacefully take a stand against racial injustice violates not only the constitutional right to free speech but the values we hold as Missourians. Given the overwhelmingly negative response to his misguided and offensive proposal, I hope Representative Brattin finally understands that.

But the unfortunate thing is, Brattin and Bahr will probably never understand how offensive the proposal was. These men attempted to take away students’ fundamental rights to freedom of speech and assembly, because they’d rather Missouri players be on the field getting physical than standing up for something political. If they keep this up, Missouri may run into some issues recruiting quality players in the future.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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College students around the U.S. and Canada have been seeing “White Student Union” pages pop up for their respective schools–as of this morning there were more than 30 around the country. But is this a new trend–are random college students really trying to create “white student communities,” or just a bunch of annoying trolls?

I’m happy to announce it appears to be the latter–The Daily Beast has reported that the Facebook pages for the white student unions are being created by a bunch of racist trolls.

Those white-student-union Facebook pages are probably fake: https://t.co/O6npzWSFQG pic.twitter.com/dpXm0FRx2x

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) November 24, 2015

The message boards 4Chan and 8Chan as well as the white supremacist site Daily Stormer appear to be propelling the creation of the pages. Gotta love the internet, and its amazing power to connect assholes regardless of location.

According to The Daily Beast, the goals of these idiots are pretty straightforward:

These trolls’ strategy is to mimic the black student activist groups whose campus protests have made headlines this month. They purport to highlight racial double-standards, asking why white students should not be allowed to organize the way minority students do. The answer is relatively straightforward (American universities are often majority white, with curricula and administrative systems that privilege white students), but 8channers are counting on some students to fall for their rhetoric.

The pages have all essentially been created within the last week, lending credence to the theory that there’s a concentrated and new effort to create them. Additionally, many of the pages use similar language, for example introducing the pages as “a safe space to support and promote the interests of students of European descent at [relevant university name]!” The following description has also been found on a number of pages:

We affirm the dignity and ancestry of our proud people who have gifted the world with countless works of beauty, science, and wisdom, and are committed to promoting a dialogue and political resistance that will secure a future for our posterity and spirit. … At the same time, we do not wish to denigrate or harm any other group or ethnicity.

After their creation, the pages have been posting a variety of articles, including those about high profile racial controversies at schools like Mizzou and Yale, or articles that are critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and the concept of white privilege.

Schools that have been affected have, for the most part, issued statements that they’re trying to get the pages taken down, and that they’re not supported by the administration. Many schools have also indicated their support for students of color on their campuses. Additionally, NYU–one of the highest profile schools to get targeted–threatened legal action against the trolls for using NYU’s logo without permission and breaking copyright law.

So no, there’s not suddenly a ton of students across the country making “White Student Union” pages, or trying to start “White Student Union” organizations. But thanks, trolls, for making sure my faith in humanity is, as per usual, very low.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Harvard Law is currently on edge as police officers investigate a possible hate crime on campus. Black tape was placed over the faces of portraits of Harvard Law’s black professors in Wasserstein Hall, where more than 180 professor’s portraits are displayed.

In response to yesterday’s protests, cowards have covered the faces of Harvard Law’s Black professors w/ black tape. pic.twitter.com/IuNd9ckucj

— the other one (@imfromraleigh) November 19, 2015

BREAKING: Overnight at @Harvard Law, portraits of black faculty desecrated in response to black student activism pic.twitter.com/tlJbDrkQUV

— Graham White (@GrahamWhite1010) November 19, 2015

The tape appeared despite many protests around the country about the treatment of students of color at schools such as Mizzou and Yale. Other schools have protested incidents on their own campuses, or protested in solidarity with schools and students nationwide. At Harvard, the day before the tape was found, undergraduate students marched with nearby Tufts University students in solidarity for Mizzou and Yale.

The tape that was used on the black professors’ portraits appears to have been taken from a nearby demonstration protesting the law school seal. Students placed black tape over a seal located in Wasserstein Hall. The seal comes from the family of Isaac Royall Jr., a well-known and ruthless slave owner. The campus group Royall Must Fall or (RMF) is dedicated to getting the logo removed from official use at Harvard Law.  

Royall was a slaver family, $ helped fund @Harvard Law and their shield is part of law school logo @carltonwilliamspic.twitter.com/5vZYdZLwWW — Wendi C. Thomas (@wendi_c_thomas) November 20, 2015

After the defacements were discovered on Thursday morning, students interrupted Dean Martha Minow’s class to discuss the issue. All said and done, more than 300 concerned students, staff, and faculty met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the incident and how to move forward, and police are still investigating it as a hate crime. There have been a wide range of reactions at Harvard Law in light of the incident, from shock to horror to (most depressingly) a lack of surprise. For example, A.J. Clayburn, a student, told CNN: 

Speaking as a student of color, I know that, while I am hurt and saddened, I am not surprised. This is merely a symptom of the greater systemic racism that currently permeates this law school and legal institutions in general.

The black tape from the portraits was quickly removed, and instead many students left post it notes on the affected professors’ portraits praising and applauding them. 

I love my HLS students! They’ve replaced the act of defacement with “love notes” to all the black faculty. pic.twitter.com/6LLHEbY9bA — Ronald S. Sullivan (@ProfRonSullivan) November 19, 2015

While it’s a nice touch, it’s obviously not going to make the problems at Harvard Law, or the overall protests and air of discontent at many of our nation’s preeminent educational institutions, go away. The investigation is pending, and tensions are clearly still palpable.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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I don’t know that we need a new think piece on the controversy on Mizzou, or on the email backlash at Yale. We don’t need to publish another op-ed on the developments at Ithaca and at Clairmont McKenna. You don’t need another talking head questioning whether this will be a growing trend among college students. Counterpoints to counterpoints, unsubstantiated claims on both sides of the aisle, social media feuds–we have plenty of all of those. And we especially don’t need these things from a privileged white girl a few years out of college who has no academic background in these issues nor any connection to any of these places, and can’t possibly know what students, particularly students of color, are experiencing there.

So ironically–here’s my opinion: all of us who aren’t at Mizzou, Yale, Ithaca, or Clairmont McKenna, let’s all just shut up for a few. Seriously. Let’s take a couple of minutes and shut the hell up, put our metaphorical pens down, and listen instead. Let’s listen to the people who are there.

This isn’t to say that I don’t have my own opinions–I do. I freely share them in my personal life.  I stand #InSolidarityWithYale, #InSolidaritywithMizzou, I try my best to be an ally, with the recognition that I don’t always do as good job as I could. And I don’t pretend to know what will fix these clearly deep seated, uncomfortable, and visceral problems in American society.

But in my professional life, I’m hesitant to share these, because I can only imagine that my voice adds to that tangled mess of op-eds, thinkpieces, and social media snippets that I believe no longer make a difference.

Here’s the thing: a lot of the people who write these pieces, like me, probably have an opinion. They probably feel strongly about one side of the debate or another. But they also realize something–we as writers and journalists in this 24/7 news cycle are tasked to write about the things that people are talking about. There are trending hashtags and search engine optimization, and I’m not saying that everyone who has written their opinion about these controversies in recent days are doing so because they want to get clicks to their respective media outlets, but I’ve got to think that it is a motivating factor for at least some. And as long as we in the media can keep pushing both sides of the controversy, as long as we add to the din of voices overshadowing the students, the faculties, and the people who really matter, the less we listen.

Regardless of how you feel about the protests at Mizzou, Yale, Ithaca, Clairmont McKenna, regardless of how you feel about the way they’ve been conducted (which frankly, is none of most of our businesses), and regardless of your opinion on overall college culture–these things don’t happen by accident. Students don’t just decide to fabricate how they feel, protest, or push for change for no reason. By speaking over them–by putting the media’s voices over theirs–we perpetuate the problem of no one listening. We need to listen to them, and quiet our voices so that other people listen too. Because that’s the only way that their voices are going to be heard and allow the conversations that so desperately need to be had.

So, with all the weight of that hypocritical lecture, I’m going to shut up and listen. I hope you do the same.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Fellow Writers: Let’s Shut Up about Mizzou and Yale appeared first on Law Street.

Update: 11:45 am

Roughly thirty African-American football players at the University of Missouri are boycotting the team until their demand is met: the resignation of the university’s president, Tom Wolfe.

Wolfe is accused of not appropriately handling some racially-based incidents on campus, including on September 12, when the Missouri Students Association president Payton Head was the recipient of racial slurs yelled at him from a pick-up truck on campus. On October 5, the Legion of Black Collegians were harassed while practicing for a homecoming performance. On October 24, a swastika was drawn in feces in one of the dorms.

Wolfe is also accused of ignoring a group of students when they approached his car to talk about the issue during the homecoming parade, and actually allowing his driver to hit one of them with his car. The allegations from that incident are detailed in the tweet below:

If you don’t know already, here is our story. #ConcernedStudent1950pic.twitter.com/BNi8NggYV6

— JB. (@_JonathanButler) October 13, 2015

Furthermore, Wolfe allegedly met with some of the concerned students, but did not take steps to assuage the issues on campus. It’s within this context that at least thirty African-American members of the football team have said they will not continue to play unless Wolfe steps down. The plan was announced via Twitter:

We are no longer taking it. It’s time to fight. #ConcernedStudent1950#MizzouHungerStrikepic.twitter.com/mnPZBviqJF

— LBC (@MizzouLBC) November 8, 2015

The university’s athletics department has said it stands by the students.

The overall air of protest at Mizzou also made headlines earlier this week when graduate student Jonathan Butler announced that he would embark on a hunger strike with the same goal–forcing Wolfe’s resignation. The football boycott is tied to Butler’s protest, and was overall organized by a student group called Concerned Student 1950. The 1950 in the group’s title is a reference to the fact that 1950 was the first year in which African-American students were allowed to matriculate at Mizzou. Butler explained his actions, stating:

I will be embarking on an indefinite hunger strike in opposition to having Tim Wolfe as the University of Missouri system president. I will not consume any food or nutritional sustenance at the expense of my health until either Tim Wolfe is removed from office or my internal organs fail and my life is lost.

Missouri’s next game is supposed to be against Brigham Young University on November 14. What will happen at that game, and exactly how many players have explicitly joined the protest are unclear. But one thing seems certain–these Mizzou students aren’t going to back down without a fight.

Update: 11:45am 

It was announced today that President Tom Wolfe will be stepping down–he announced his resignation at a University of Missouri System Board of Curators special meeting earlier today. 

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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