Melissa Click says she was terminated to appease conservatives, silence black protesters
Terminated University of Missouri professor Melissa Click is now claiming she has been a scapegoat that was used to appease conservatives and that the Board of Curators is just trying to silence black protestors.
“In their decision to terminate my employment, the Curators bowed to conservative voices that seek to tarnish my stellar 12-year record at MU,” Click said in a statement.
The Board of Curators fired Click two weeks ago with a 4-2 vote.
[RELATED: Mizzou curators vote to fire Melissa Click]
Prior to Click’s dismissal, students spent one afternoon collecting over 600 signatures calling for her removal.
“As long as the curators get the idea that we did this in one day, we had this much outcry about how students want to have their voice heard, we’ll be satisfied,” student Thomas Bradbury said.
[RELATED: Mizzou students petition for Melissa Click to be fired]
Chairwoman Pam Henrickson said that the board respects Click’s right to express her views but, “Dr. Click was not entitled to interfere with the rights of others, to confront members of law enforcement or to encourage potential physical intimidation against a student.”
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) announced Monday that three tenured faculty members will be investigating her dismissal and if they find the board violated standards of due process, then the university could be censured.
The AAUP will vote at its June 3–4 meeting to decide whether to recommend that the Association censure the university’s administration at its June 18 meeting.
“The Board of Curators is using me as a scapegoat to distract from larger campus issues,” Click wrote. “But their termination of my employment will not remedy the environment of injustice that persists at MU.”
She says that the Curators are punishing her for standing with students who had drawn attention to overt racism at Mizzou.
“While I have apologized on numerous occasions to numerous parties for my actions,” Click wrote, “I will not apologize for my support of Black students who experience racism at the University of Missouri.”
[RELATED: Mizzou prof. admits she ‘made mistakes’ during campus protests]
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @brianledtke
