Fired Missouri professor who called for “muscle” to remove student journalists hired by Gonzaga University

Fired University of Missouri journalism professor Melissa Click has been hired as a nontenured lecturer at Gonzaga University.

Click was fired in February after a video of her trying to remove a student journalist from a protest rally on campus in November went viral. The video showed her calling for “muscle” to remove the journalist, who was trying to cover the protest. The rally had been organized in response to racial incidents on campus.

Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak, dean of Gonzaga’s College of Arts and Sciences, said in a written statement that Click has been hired in a one-year, nontenure track position as a lecturer in the Communication Studies department. A national search “revealed her to be the most qualified and experienced candidate for the position,” Mermann-Jozwiak said.

“We are confident that she has learned much from her experiences at the University of Missouri and believe she will uphold the rigorous standards of academic excellence demanded of Gonzaga faculty and students,” she said.

The video of Click sparked heated reactions from some. More than 3,500 people signed a petition on change.org asking the Missouri governor to fire Click. One hundred Republican Missouri legislators signed a letter demanding Click be fired, the Washington Post reported.

In an opinion piece published in the Post, Click said she was inexperienced with public protests and made a mistake.

She was charged with assault after the incident, but the Kansas City Star reported she made a plea agreement which stipulated the charge would be dismissed if she performed community service and stayed out of trouble for a year.

Efforts to reach Click late Friday were unsuccessful.