#mark schierbecker

Disgraced Missouri professor seen yelling profanity at police in new video

  February 15, 2016

Media professor confronts student journalist

A since-suspended University of Missouri professor is seen yelling profanities at police officers trying to clear activists blocking traffic in a video that surfaced late Sunday night of an October protest.

Assistant Professor of Communication Melissa Click was suspended from her position in late January after she was charged with…

University of Missouri board indefinitely suspends Melissa Click

Melissa Click, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri who gained national attention last year stemming from a run-in with student journalists, was suspended by the UM Board of Curators late Wednesday night.

In a prepared statement, UM Board of Curators chairwoman Pam Henrickson said the board had directed the university’s general counsel to conduct an investigation to determine whether more discipline was necessary.

Click pleaded not guilty this week to a misdemeanor assault charge after she was caught on video in a confrontation with students.

On Nov. 9, University of Missouri-Columbia students had assembled to celebrate the resignation of then-UM System President Timothy M. Wolfe.

Wolfe had angered students over the perception that he was indifferent to a number of racist incidents on campus.

Click was captured on video blocking student journalists and calling others for “muscle” to keep the student journalists from taking photos and videos of the celebration.In the days afterward, a number of legislators and others called for Click’s resignation.

This week, interim Mizzou Chancellor Hank Foley resisted calls to fire Click. He said he would wait for due process to play out.

Click is scheduled to be back in court on Feb. 16.

So. I’ve been following the Mark Schierbecker/Skepticon thing. Am watching the video of the Q&A right now, actually. And... I see a lot of painful failure here. I’m not going to speak on the original incident, as frankly it’s not my place.

First and foremost: Hosting it at all was a mistake. Something this sensitive should not have been done last minute off-schedule. It should absolutely not have been done in a way that specifically excluded voices of colour in any way, and shouldn’t have been framed as a neutral Q&A when it was actually a PR move by Schierbecker and Muscato.

Second: Schierbecker strikes me as someone who is very unconsciously racist, but bases his self-image on “I’m one of the good guys fighting against racism”. The Q&A video is... pretty ugly on his part.

Third, and the reason I’m speaking on this at all: I’m seeing a lot of people, mostly allistic, framing this as “those mean SJWs bullying this poor autistic guy!” No. Let me state this plainly right now, as an autistic person: You do not get to use me as your weapon. His autism is not a shield. He chose to make himself a public figure here. he chose to make this a focus and a media issue, knowing beforehand that it would involve a lot of public interaction. There was more than he anticipated here, but if he was half the ally that he tries to hold himself out as, he probably should have recognized that a white voice speaking over voices of colour to a diverse audience would never be allowed to stand unchallenged.

Despite mouthing the right words about how “racism is the issue here”, “I have a very privileged background”, “fuck racists”, and “my job is to work toward a world with less white privilege,” dude has a mountain of unchecked racism. He sees absolutely no issue with trying to invade a safe space for POC that he’s been asked to leave, getting belligirent about it, and then presenting himself as the wounded party when he was physically barred from entering. He sees journalists’ right of access to safe spaces as on par with black students’ right to safety. He refers to Fox and Breitbart as “people who share our views,” and thinks fucking Stormfront needs to be handled thoughtfully when it wants him to speak to it. He acknowledges that his short, edited video is very problematic and being weaponized, but refuses to take it down (and then claims it’s unedited).

Autism is not a shield from accusations of racism. If he wants to be a good ally - and it’s painfully clear that he does - then his job as a white person, when black people told him what they needed, was to shut up and back off. If he chose to ignore that responsibility and throw himself into a spotlight that was not his and where he was not wanted, he does not get to shield himself by saying “Social interaction is difficult for me!” when people rightly criticize him for his actions.

As an autistic person, I am genuinely scared that the takeaway from the autism narrative here is “autistic people are assholes, and can’t be expected to have concern for other people.” This is already a strong thread in allistic discussion of autism. It doesn’t fucking need reinforced. He screwed up massively, he showed a lot of unthinking racism, and his autism is an entirely separate thing from that.

EDIT: Okay, someone asked him if, given that he’s said he wants to focus on fighting racism, he should maybe take down the video that Stormfront is using as a weapon; at what point does he need to take responsibility and take action on that?

“When Melissa Click resigns or is fired.”

Yes, that’s how you center racism: By making it all about what a white person did to an unwelcome white person in a POC space.

This week, students at the University of Missouri staged a protest. A massive protest encompassing much of the student body, including the school’s football team.

The protest was sparked by a series of alleged racial incidents. In September, the Student Body President claimed to have had racial slurs hurled at them from a passing pick-up truck. More recently, a drunk white student did the same to…