Texas A&M University this week quickly fired a children\u2019s literature professor and removed a department head and a dean from their administrative positions after a state representative shared a video of the instructor teaching about gender identity.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 8, Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison took to social media to accuse the professor and Texas A&M of perpetuating \u201cDEI and LGBTQ indoctrination,\u201d a common refrain among conservative critics of higher education.<\/p>\n
The video Harrison shared went viral, spurred conservative outcry and prompted the Texas A&M system to announce a coursework audit of every class at its 12 universities. Harrison also called for the flagship\u2019s president to be fired over the incident.<\/p>\n
The speed and punitive nature of the university\u2019s response stirred outrage from faculty and free speech organizations and left the massive public system at the center of a maelstrom over academic freedom, due process and bans on diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are witnessing the death of academic freedom in Texas, the remaking of universities as tools of authoritarianism that suppress free thought,\u201d Jonathan Friedman, managing director of Pen America\u2019s U.S. Free Expression Programs, said in a statement. \u201cFaculty at Texas A&M and across the state have been put on notice: they must not teach about any concepts politicians disfavor, because Big Brother is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ousted in a day
\nHarrison posted a two-minute video on Sept. 8 that he described, in all capital letters, as showing a student \u201ckicked out of class after objecting to transgender indoctrination.\u201d The lawmaker also called on the Trump administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to take action against the university.<\/p>\n
In the video, a student tells a professor that teaching there are more than two genders goes against the student\u2019s religious beliefs and violates an executive order from President Donald Trump. Trump signed an executive order in January directing the federal government to only recognize two sexes, male and female, a position at odds with the scientific and medical communities.<\/p>\n
The professor replies that the subject matter is not illegal to teach, despite what the student says, and tells them to leave if they choose.<\/p>\n
Neither speaker\u2019s face is shown on camera, and the video is not dated or timestamped.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M on Wednesday did not immediately respond to a request for comment and to verify the video.<\/p>\n
Swift and escalating responses from Texas A&M leaders
\nTexas A&M President Mark Welsh took to social media to respond to Harrison\u2019s video the same day.<\/p>\n
In a late evening statement, Welsh said he learned on the afternoon of Sept. 8 that leaders of the university\u2019s college of arts and sciences \u201capproved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course\u2019s published description.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, Welsh told the university provost to immediately remove the college\u2019s dean and English department head from their administrative positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur students use the published information in the course catalog to make important decisions about the courses they take in pursuit of their degrees,\u201d Welsh said. \u201cIf we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we let our students down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, Welsh announced that the professor involved had been fired, just a day after he said he learned about the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about academic freedom; it\u2019s about academic responsibility,\u201d Welsh said in the statement. \u201cOur degree programs and courses go through extensive approval processes, and we must ensure that what we ultimately deliver to students is consistent with what was approved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welsh also ordered the university\u2019s deans and department heads to audit the content of their courses \u201cto ensure they align with the course descriptions.\u201d The flagship Texas A&M campus has 16,000 course sections, according to the president, and enrolls over 79,000 students.<\/p>\n
The inconsistency between course descriptions and taught material was not a new problem, said Welsh. Earlier this year, the arts and sciences college signed off on another children\u2019s literature course for the summer term \u201cthat did not align with any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum for the course,\u201d he said.After someone raised the issue, the university provided students with alternatives to complete the class and \u201cmade changes to ensure this course content does not continue in future semesters,\u201d Welsh said. He did not provide further details on the summer course or the inconsistencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, I made it clear to our academic leadership that course content must match catalog descriptions for each and every one of our course sections,\u201d he said. But the president said the latest discrepancy between a course description and its content shows the problem persisted.<\/p>\n
The system\u2019s board of regents also announced Tuesday that it had directed Chancellor Glenn Hegar to audit every course for \u201cfull compliance with all applicable laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, the board said it was working \u201cto ensure that what happened this week will not be repeated,\u201d saying it \u201cwill not tolerate actions that damage the reputation of our institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auditing the entire system\u2019s courses will be a massive undertaking. The university system, one of the country\u2019s biggest, enrolls about 175,000 students across 12 institutions and has an annual budget of $8.1 billion, according to institutional data.<\/p>\n
Hegar confirmed the systemwide audit shortly after the board\u2019s statement and applauded Welsh\u2019s decision to fire the professor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis action shows insubordination and indoctrination have no place on our campus or in our classrooms,\u201d Hegar said Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
State pressure and federal inquiries
\nAbbott this week praised Welsh for stripping the college officials of their administrative positions and called for the \u201cprofessor who acted contrary to Texas law\u201d to be fired.<\/p>\n
It is unclear what law the governor is referring to, and his office did not respond to questions Wednesday. In 2023, Texas passed a sweeping ban on most diversity, equity and inclusion work at public colleges, but the law does not affect what faculty can teach.<\/p>\n
However, Harrison said on social media Tuesday that the professor\u2019s termination wasn\u2019t enough. \u201cThe President must also be fired,\u201d the state lawmaker said.<\/p>\n
In his calls for governmental intervention, Harrison accused Welsh of mishandling the student\u2019s complaint about the professor. He shared two audio recordings that he says include Welsh initially declining to fire the professor at the student\u2019s request and defending education on LGBTQ+ topics.<\/p>\n
Abbott and Welsh have already clashed once this year. The governor threatened the Texas A&M leader\u2019s job after a university email invited some employees and Ph.D. students to attend a higher education conference for Black, Hispanic and Native American participants. Welsh ultimately said no one would attend, to comply with state law, The Texas Tribune reported.<\/p>\n
Harrison also called on the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to investigate Texas A&M. The state lawmaker, who served as HHS\u2019 chief of staff during the first Trump administration, further requested the agencies \u201censure that Texas universities receiving federal funds are complying with President Trump\u2019s Executive Orders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither department responded to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s civil rights division, called Harrison\u2019s video \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d in a social media post and said her office would look into it.<\/p>\n
\u2018An abuse of their power\u2019
\nTexas A&M\u2019s rapid-fire termination of the professor, removal of academic leaders from administrative roles and decision to audit all coursework drew significant condemnation from faculty groups and free speech advocates.<\/p>\n
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday that neither recent state laws nor Trump\u2019s executive orders supersede the U.S. Constitution, adding that nothing legally takes away faculty\u2019s right to due process and free speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cLawmakers and the governor himself using their considerable platforms to publicly call for the removal of a faculty member, a dean, a department chair, and the president of the university based on viral video clips is an abuse of their power and a level of histrionics that ought to concern us all,\u201d Capo said in statement. \u201cThis is not normal, and we cannot let this race to a moral panic become the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Conference of the American Association for University Professors sounded alarms Wednesday after Texas A&M announced its systemwide course audit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has happened at Texas A&M this week should concern every Texan,\u201d Texas-AAUP said. \u201cNot only has the integrity of academic freedom come under fire, but the due process rights of a faculty member have been trampled at the urging of state politicians + the governor himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same day, the University of Texas-Austin\u2019s AAUP chapter expressed solidarity with its Texas A&M peers and cast doubt on Abbott\u2019s accusation that the professor had violated state law.<\/p>\n
A petition to reinstate the fired professor and Texas A&M administrators to their positions garnered over 1,900 signatures as of Wednesday evening.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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