A children’s literature professor at Texas A&M was fired on Tuesday after a video showing a student objecting to course material about gender identity and sexuality went viral.
The undated video does not show the professor or the student involved.
“According to our president, there’s only two genders and he said he would be freezing agencies’ funding programs that promote gender ideology.
“It is unacceptable for A&M system faculty to push a political agenda,” Glenn Hegar, the school’s chancellor, said in a statement.
Brian Harrison, a Republican state lawmaker, posted the clips as well as what he said was material from the class and asked Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, to intervene to get the professor fired.
A video of a student objecting to course material about gender identity and sexuality went viral, leading to the dismissal of a Texas A&M professor of children’s literature on Tuesday.
According to a statement released by university president Mark Welsh III, the head of the department and the dean of the school’s college of arts and science were also relieved of their positions.
Neither the professor nor the student are shown in the undated video.
“I’m not sure if it’s legal to teach,” the student acknowledges. Our president claims that there are only two genders and that he will stop funding organizations that support gender ideology. Additionally, this strongly contradicts the religious beliefs of many people, including myself. “”.
Over the summer, Welsh claimed to have first become aware of possible issues with the course and “made changes to ensure this course content does not continue in future semesters.”.
In a letter to faculty and students on Tuesday, he stated, “I made it clear to our academic leadership that in every single one of our course sections, the course content must match catalog descriptions.”. Late yesterday, I discovered that the college was still teaching material for another course this fall that did not align with the published course description, in spite of that directive. “.”.
The Texas Tribune reports that the professor, who has been identified by university officials as Melissa McCoul, was fired shortly after Welsh made an appearance in another video in which he informed the student that the professor’s termination was “not happening.”.
The chancellor of the university, Glenn Hegar, issued a statement saying, “It is unacceptable for A&M system faculty to push a political agenda.”. “It seems from preliminary investigations that this course did not follow explicit guidelines to match course descriptions with the course materials. “.”.
According to the student newspaper, the Battalion, Texas A&M passed an audit earlier this year to make sure the institution complies with a new state law that forbids DEI in public universities.
The videos caused Republican officials and politicians to put a great deal of pressure on the school. Republican state lawmaker Brian Harrison shared the videos along with what he claimed was class content and urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to step in and fire the professor. Additionally, he requested action from the Trump administration. The head of the justice department’s civil rights division, Harmeet Dhillon, amplified the post.
