\n<\/p>\n
Texas A&M University president Mark Welsh stepped down abruptly Thursday under mounting pressure from state lawmakers over how he handled a recent incident in which a student clashed with a professor over a lesson on gender identity, prompting him to dismiss the instructor.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Welsh fired Melissa McCoul, who taught English, after a student taking her children\u2019s literature class objected to the professor\u2019s statement that there are more than two genders. Welsh also removed two administrators from their duties because they \u201capproved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent\u201d with the course\u2019s description, he said.<\/p>\n
The incident prompted fury from state lawmakers, some of whom called on the Texas A&M Board of Regents to terminate Welsh. But on Thursday, system officials announced he had resigned.<\/p>\n
The case also raised serious questions about academic freedom at Texas A&M and prompted pushback from faculty members who argued that McCoul\u2019s termination was unnecessary and unjust. The American Association of University Professors also released a statement arguing that the \u201cfirings set a dangerous new precedent for partisan interference in Texas higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welsh\u2019s resignation is effective Friday at 5\u00a0p.m., system officials noted in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Welsh is a man of honor who has led Texas A&M with selfless dedication. We are grateful for his service and contributions,\u201d Texas A&M system chancellor Glenn Hegar, a former GOP lawmaker, said in a statement Thursday. \u201cAt the same time, we agree that now is the right moment to make a change and to position Texas A&M for continued excellence in the years ahead.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Others took a victory lap, including Brian Harrison, a Republican lawmaker and Texas A&M alum who has accused the university of funding \u201cleftist [diversity, equity and inclusion] and transgender indoctrination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week Harrison posted a video that the student had taken of her confrontation with McCoul, in which the student claims that teaching material related to gender identity and transgender people is illegal and violates one of President Trump\u2019s executive orders, which are not laws. Harrison called for the board to fire Welsh and other senior officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWE DID IT! TEXAS A&M PRESIDENT IS OUT!!\u201d Harrison wrote on social media Thursday, adding that \u201cas the first elected official to call for him to be fired, this news is welcome, although overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several other Republican lawmakers also publicly expressed support for firing Welsh.<\/p>\n
Welsh\u2019s resignation comes despite the backing of notable faculty members, such as Texas A&M\u2019s Executive Committee of the University Distinguished Professors, who wrote a letter of support for the president to the Board of Regents ahead of Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n
Welsh, a four-star general who served as chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, was previously dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service before he was initially tapped as interim president in July 2023 when his predecessor, Kathy Banks, resigned following a hiring scandal. Welsh was named to the job on a permanent basis in December 2023.<\/p>\n
Welsh\u2019s exit now means the last two Texas A&M presidents have been felled by scandal and neither lasted more than two years in the job.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M did not immediately name an interim upon announcing Welsh\u2019s resignation, but system officials noted in a statement that it will appoint someone to the position \u201cin the coming days\u201d and \u201cinitiate a national search for a permanent president\u201d following Welsh\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Texas A&M University president Mark Welsh stepped down abruptly Thursday under mounting pressure from state lawmakers over how he handled a recent incident in which a student clashed with a professor over a lesson on gender identity, prompting him to dismiss the instructor. Earlier this month, Welsh fired Melissa McCoul, who taught English, after a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1059,4785,2020,1010],"class_list":{"0":"post-22374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-president","9":"tag-pressure","10":"tag-steps","11":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}