SPOKANE, Wash. -- The University of Missouri assistant communications professor who was fired after interfering with journalists and police during student protests nearly a year ago has a new job at a private Catholic university in Washington state. Gonzaga University says Melissa Click has been hired for a one-year contract as a lecturer in the undergraduate communication studies department.

The school in Spokane says Click's profile is now online and she has begun teaching this semester. The hiring has been met with criticism on social media, including from alumni.

In a statement, Gonzaga says Click believes she has learned from her time at Mizzou and will uphold the school's standards. The school says it also has confidence that Click will "make a valuable contribution to its community."

Last fall, click was captured on video asking for "some muscle" to help chase a student videographer away from a tense campus protest about racial tensions. The incident helped fuel the resignations of the president of the four-campus University of Missouri system and the Columbia campus' chancellor.

Click was charged with a misdemeanor for the incident but a prosecutor eventually agreed to drop the case. Several students supported her in her fight against the charges and at the protests. One of those was Mark Schierbecker, who filmed the confrontation with Click and who later testified against her in court. He says the video is misleading and that she did not threaten or physically assault him.