A Texas A&M University professor was fired after being caught on video teaching the “gender unicorn” in an English course on children’s literature, but the fallout from the episode isn’t over.
On the hot seat is Texas A&M President Mark Welsh over his handling of a student’s complaint about the instructor, senior lecturer Melissa McCoul, who ejected the student from class after she raised objections to the course’s focus on “gender identity and transgenderism.”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to keep the investigation open by looking into the conduct of Mr. Welsh, saying that he “did not handle the recent situation concerning a student and a professor who was fired yesterday as he should have.
“His ambivalence on the issue and his dismissal of the student’s concerns by immediately taking the side of the professor is unacceptable,” Mr. Patrick said in a statement Thursday. “This is not the first instance of a lack of confidence in President Welsh’s leadership.”
Mr. Welsh terminated the professor and removed two faculty members from their positions as College of Arts and Sciences dean and English department head after Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison posted an audio recording by the unnamed student on social media.
In an audio recording, a man identified as Mr. Welsh becomes exasperated with the student, saying, “You’re trying to pick a fight here” and “Tell us what you’re looking for. What do you expect us to do [about the professor]? Fire her?”
When the student replies, “Yes, absolutely,” he replies, “Well, that’s not happening.”
As it turns out, that did happen. A day after the recording was posted, Mr. Welsh announced that the professor had been terminated “effective immediately” following pushback from state Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Mr. Welsh said the children’s literature course was flagged over the summer for including content that “did not align with any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum for the course,” and that it was made clear the content must align with the catalog description.
“However, I learned late yesterday that despite that directive, the college continued to teach content that was inconsistent with the published course description for another course this fall,” Mr. Welsh said in the statement. “As a result, I took the above administrative actions, and deans and department heads will conduct an audit of course offerings to ensure they align with the course descriptions.”
His comments failed to satisfy Mr. Harrison, who has called for the governor to fire Mr. Welsh and take steps to eradicate “DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination” from state universities and agencies.
Ms. McCoul isn’t taking the dismissal quietly. Her attorney said that she has appealed her termination and is “exploring further legal action,” accusing Texas A&M of violating her constitutional rights, contractual agreement, and academic freedom.
“Professor McCoul’s course content was entirely consistent with the catalog and course description, and she was never instructed to change her course content in any way, shape or form,” said attorney Amanda Reichek in a statement to KBTX-TV. “In fact, Dr. McCoul taught this course and others like it for many years, successfully and without challenge.”
That’s why the terminations shouldn’t stop with the professor, as far as Mr. Harrison is concerned.
“If Dr. McCoul has been teaching this extreme DEI and transgender indoctrination at @TAMU for ’many years’ (as her statement claims) then this scandal just got much worse, the problems more systemic, and the number A&M officials who must be fired is increasing,” Mr. Harrison said Friday on X.
Examples of course materials posted by Mr. Harrison include pages titled “Let’s talk gender in children’s lit!” and “Queer History and Moral Maturation in Young Adult Literature and the AIDS Crisis.”
“Why talk about queerness at all?” asked one instructional material. “Isn’t that way too ’adult’ for little kids? Well, no.”
The “gender unicorn,” created by Trans Student Educational Resources, shows a purple unicorn cartoon next to a sliding scale that students can use to gauge attributes such as their “gender identity” and “gender expression.”
Mr. Welsh said the professor’s firing “isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility,” while the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) accused the university of “viewpoint-based censorship.”
“The message from Texas is alarming: Professors teach at the mercy of those in power, not under the protection of academic freedom or the First Amendment,” said Lindsie Rank, FIRE director of campus rights and advocacy.
The Trump administration is paying attention. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon called the situation “deeply concerning” on X and said that her department “will look into this!”
Glenn Hegar, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, commended Mr. Welsh for firing the professor and launching an audit of all course offerings, an audit that the board has extended to all 12 of the system’s universities.
“His action shows insubordination and indoctrination have no place in our classrooms,” said Mr. Hegar in a statement.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.