Assault on freedoms calls for action against UM prof

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

‚ï – U.S. Constitution

Over the past 224 years, those reverent words – the text of the First Amendment to The U.S. Constitution and the lead article of Americans’ hallowed Bill of Rights – have been threatened, challenged, misused and abused time and time and time again. Among those many attacks:

In 1796, during Tennessee’s constitutional convention, a proposal to require a profession of faith among all officeholders took root. Fortunately future President Andrew Jackson stood up in defiance and played a prominent role in its removal.

In 1836, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted gag rules to completely muzzle any discussion of antislavery proposals. It took many years of fighting, but free-speech advocates won the day with their repeal in 1844.

In 1926, acclaimed American satirist H.L. Mencken was arrested for distributing copies of his American Mercury magazine, an irreverent publication that poked fun at American political and social institutions. Censorship groups in Boston called it obscene, but freedom of speech persevered when Mencken was acquitted of all charges.

INTOLERANCE IN MISSOURI

The latest chilling hit on First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly played out earlier this month in the public Carnahan Quad on the University of Missouri campus. There on Nov. 9, a large group of students and staff rallied to celebrate the resignation of the university president after months of free-speech protests amid allegations of racial intolerance on campus.

Ironically, a new brand of intolerance raised its ugly head during the climax of the rally. Amid the jubilation, student news photographer Tim Tai went to work fully exercising his First Amendment right to chronicle the demonstration in words and pictures. Some of the protesters, however, would have none of that freedom of speech, freedom of press or freedom of asssembly for the youthful journalist.

In a despicable display of turf-protecting hate, they pushed, shoved and taunted Tai. The fray reached a crescendo when Melissa Click, a feminist-studies scholar and professor of mass communication, was captured on video verbally intimidating and threatening the Asian-American student photojournalist.

“Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here,” she ranted, as she was recorded on the video that has since gone viral.

After a national uproar, Click resigned her position as a “courtesy appointee” to the university’s renowned School of Journalism but remains an assistant professor in the School of Mass Media. She also offered an apology.

In it, she said, “I regret the language and strategies I used, and sincerely apologize to the MU campus community, and journalists at large, for my behavior, and also for the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice.”

Her apology, however, rings hollow and her “courtesy” resignation stands as insufficient punishment for her blatant assault on First Amendment freedoms.

AN EMBARRASSING EXAMPLE

Bullying and intimidating a photographer in a public arena of a public university fly in the face of the constitutional ideals that Click as a mass-media scholar should exemplify to students. Instead, she thrust herself into the league of those in Tennessee in the 18th century who spat upon religious liberty or the misguided congressmen who in the 19th century attempted to silence free speech on the divisive slavery debate in this country.

Therefore, her continued presence on the University of Missouri campus as a full-time assistant professor within the School of Mass Media will serve as a constant and haunting reminder of the stain of dishonor she brought to the campus and to the ideals of unfettered free speech. As such, university policy-makers would be wise to sever ties with Click quickly and completely.