THE WAPO’S ERIK WEMPLE: University of Missouri, please immediately fire employees who taunted media.

There’s no excuse for protesters to push a photographer in a public square; there’s no excuse for protesters to appeal for respect while failing to respect; there’s no excuse for protesters to dis the same rights that allow them to do their thing.

And there’s even less excuse for faculty and staff members at the University of Missouri to engage in some of this very same behavior. In his chat with this blog, Tai cited the involvement of Richard J. “Chip” Callahan, professor and chair of religious studies at the university. In the opening moments of the video, Callahan faces off with Tai over whether the photographer can push to get any closer to the tents. “I’m not gonna push them,” says Tai.

Moments later, the protesters resolve to throw up their hands (literally) to show Tai who owns this public roost. Callahan participates in this collective action. As Tai swivels his camera from place to place, Callahan shuffles to block the sight paths. Behold these screenshots. . . . These three university employees had a chance to stick up for free expression on Monday. Instead, they stood up for coercion and darkness. They should lose their jobs as a result.

It’s a disgrace. From the comments: “These kids, and the ones at Yale, are the quintessence of hypocrisy. They take small, occasional slights and go into a rage making exponentially more people upset, and get things teetering on the edge of violence. . . . They are petty tyrants.”

Yep. Being used by people with ambitions to be not-so-petty.