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 Texas A&M professor of children’s literature was fired on Tuesday after a video of a student protesting against course materials about sexuality and gender identity went viral.
According to a statement from Mark Welsh III, the university president, the head of the department and the dean of the college of arts and science were also relieved of their positions.
Both the professor and the student are not visible in the undated video.
The student remarks, “I’m not sure if it’s legal to be teaching.”. 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. “.”.
After learning about possible issues with the course over the summer, Welsh claimed to have “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 course content must match catalog descriptions for each and every one of our course sections.”. For another course this fall, I discovered late yesterday that the college was still teaching material that did not align with the published course description in spite of that directive. “.”.
The professor, identified by university officials as Melissa McCoul, was fired shortly after Welsh told the student in another video that the professor’s firing was “not happening,” according to the Texas Tribune.
The chancellor of the university, Glenn Hegar, issued a statement saying, “It is unacceptable for A&M system faculty to push a political agenda.”. According to preliminary findings, this course did not follow explicit guidelines to match course descriptions with course materials. “.”.
The Battalion, the student newspaper, reports that Texas A&M passed an audit earlier this year to make sure the institution complies with a new state law that prohibits DEI in public universities.
Republican officials and politicians put a great deal of pressure on the school as a result of the videos. GOP 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.
