Melissa Click was charged with assault for her involvement in preventing media personnel from covering demonstrations on the University of Missouri's campus.
An assistant professor of communications at MU, Click was seen on video blocking cameramen and reporters from entering the school's campus. The person behind the video was a student journalist at MU named Mark Schierbecker, who recorder the professor asking for "some muscle" to help push him back.
Schierbecker issued a complaint against Click on Nov. 11 in relation to that incident, and City Prosecutor Steve Richey filed a simple assault charge against her on Monday, The Columbia Missourian reported. The maximum charge for the Class C misdemeanor is 15 days in jail and a $300 fine.
Schierbecker's complaint alleged Click "assaulted M.S. by grabbing at his camera with her hand and attempting to knock it from his grasp... This caused [Schierbecker] to fear he was in danger of immediate physical injury."
Many students at MU were demonstrating in the wake of Tim Wolfe stepping down as the school system's president. His resignation was the result of the MU football team boycotting all organized activities, including games, until a graduate student named Jonathan Butler ended his hunger strike.
Butler had already been fasting for a week in protest of Wolfe's perceived indifference to complaints of racist activity on campus. Click offered an apology after the video of her went viral, stating she talked with Schierbecker and another student who made a similar complaint.
"The City Prosecutor obviously had a lot to weigh," Schierbecker told The Huffington Post. "I'm happy an informed choice was made rather than an expedient one."
