COLUMBIA, Mo. – While the major headline coming out of the University of Missouri the past few days has focused on the resignation of former system president Tim Wolfe and the reaction of the student activists who ousted him, one supplementary headline has focused on the role of the press at one of the nation’s oldest and most respected journalism schools in the nation.
Tim Tai, a student photographer covering the events Monday for ESPN, was threatened and intimidated by student protesters as well as members of the faculty organizing them for attempting to take pictures of the gathering held on public property to cover public figures in an event that made headlines across the country.
Professor of Communications Melissa Click and Janna Basler, the school’s director of Greek life, are the two authority figures directing the students. In response to her actions, Click stepped down after pressure from inside the Missouri School of Journalism from a courtesy appointment to the school.
However, both of them still hold their positions at the university.
A statement released by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, appears to have added another in a list of grievances with the university. Schaefer called for both of the professors to be fired.
“It is incumbent on the University of Missouri to send a strong message that acts of intimidation and violence will not be tolerated on campus,” he wrote. “The University’s employment of Melissa Click and Janna Basler should immediately be terminated for their violations of MU’s code of conduct and their actions referred by MU to the City of Columbia or Boone County Prosecutor for appropriate action.”
Schaefer added the behavior of the two constituted at least third degree assault and attempted false imprisonment charges.
“On this Veterans Day when we remember the men and women who sacrificed to protect the first amendment freedoms of all Americans, the University should not allow acts of violence and intimidation to stifle the free movement of journalists on campus.”
Others, including media outlets across the country, have called for the termination of Click and Basler’s employment as well while also detailing the troubling trend of “safe spaces” at college campuses.
UPDATE: Department of Student Life Coordiantor Mark Lucas announced that Basler has been placed on administrative leave as an investigation is conducted regarding her activities.
