The American Association of University Professors released a report Thursday on the firing of MU Assistant Professor Melissa Click. Click’s employment was terminated in February following confrontations with student reporters and police as MU students protested the racial climate on campus in late 2015.
Among other conclusions, the AAUP finds that the University of Missouri Board of Curators violated “basic principles of academic due process” by denying Click a hearing before an elected group of faculty.
“In light of the board’s action against Professor Click and in the context of legislative threats to the institution and unresolved administrative turmoil,” the report continues, “academic freedom and shared governance at MU are endangered.”
At a June meeting an AAUP committee will decide whether to recommend that the Association censure the MU administration.
The university system issued a lengthy response, writing that the report “overreaches” and “contains many erroneous statements about the process followed by the Board in addressing Dr. Click’s misconduct.”
