Interim MU Chancellor Hank Foley released statements on Sunday addressing the police body camera video of faculty member Melissa Click in confrontation with police at the MU Homecoming Parade, after a demonstration by the group Concerned Student 1950. He plans to address the video with the UM Board of Curators.
In an email to students, faculty and staff on Sunday, Foley wrote that Click’s apparent behavior on this video, in addition to footage from Nov. 9, were quote “not consistent with that which is expected of a faculty member.” In the press statement, however, he was more severe, saying quote “her conduct and behavior are appalling, and I am not only disappointed, I am angry, that a member of our faculty acted this way.”
But MU professor of English Andrew Hoberek believes otherwise. He was one of the architects of a letter in support of Melissa Click in December. It has 116 signatures from MU faculty members.
“I’m not exactly sure what Chancellor Foley finds appalling in the video,” Hoberek said. “Clearly, Columbia police chose not to press charges and so they made a judgement that no illegal behavior was taking place. If the appalling segment is the use of a curse word, then that seems troubling in its own right since protests can be heated places.”
Melissa Click gave her first interviews with media outlets last week after months of silence. In an email, MU spokesperson Christian Basi says that he’s not sure how Foley’s conversation with the curators will change based on the new video.
