When the video featuring University of Missouri professor Melissa Click came to my attention, I wrote her an e-mail introducing myself as a Mizzou journalism grad and offering her a “forum” to explain her behavior. She didn’t reply.
Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times wrote that the students “showed leadership in trying to rectify a failure of leadership. But moral voices can also become sanctimonious bullies.” PEN’s Suzanne Nossel, writing in the Times, expressed sympathy for both Tai’s side and the students’, but observed that “some student rights advocates seem convinced that their needs and safety can be assured only by restricting speech.” Nossel wasn’t speaking only of Mizzou but of campuses throughout America that cosset students with trigger warnings, safe spaces, and rules for Halloween costumes.
That changes when Schierbecker swings his camera away. He runs into Click, who tells him to get out and puts out her now infamous call for “muscle.” Says Schierbecker to her, “This is public property.” And Click replies, “Oh, that’s a really good one. I’m a communications faculty and I really get that argument. But you need to go. You need to go. You need to go.”
