The American Association of University Professors has roused itself in defense of Melissa Click, the Lady Gaga scholar Mizzou has just decided to fire for — let’s not forget — physically assaulting an undergraduate student. AAUP is crying “due process.” But the facts of the case are not in dispute — the assault is clearly captured on video — and Click herself does not dispute them. She was charged by the police and has entered into a non-prosecution agreement under which she will be obliged to perform community service (can’t wait to find out what that turns out to be) and to stay out of legal trouble for a year as a condition of not facing a criminal trial. The criterion of due process has been satisfied.
AAUP is not really insisting on due process. It is insisting that professors who share its political agenda cannot be held to account for — to repeat — actual crimes of violence against students on campus. Not naughty ideas, not poorly chosen words, not nasty epithets: assault.
The scandal isn’t that Melissa Click has been fired. The scandal will be if another institution hires her.